Severance
by sakuuya
Summary: In an alternate universe, personal conflicts and strange transformations threaten to fracture the friendship of a more complex band of Mews. And with the Mews in turmoil, there may be no way to save the world. !WINNER of Tomahawk 3.0's contest!
1. Sound and Fury

_Severance (n):_

_1. the act of seperating a part of the whole or the state of being seperated._

_2. a breaking off, as of a friendship._

**Chapter 1: Sound and Fury**

Hi. The author's notes for this thing are pretty exhaustive, so if you're just looking for a light, fun read... well, go read something else. But if you just want story, by all means, skip ahead. You won't be missing anything critically important.

What I wanted to say here was that this is my first time trying anything like this. I'm normally pretty down on TMM OCs, which is justifiable, I think. That said, if anything about any of my characters smacks of the sort of easy characterization present in many other fics like this, please please PLEASE tell me. I'm usually pretty good at making characters that, um, don't suck, but they _are_ my characters, and my view of them is thus a little skewed.

Also, I'd really appreciate longer reviews. This is uncharted territory for me, and I want to know what I'm doing wrong. That said, I'm not gonna complain about short reviews, but if you only say "Update soon!" you probably won't get a review reply, 'cause I don't have a whole lot to say to that.

Other things to watch out for: The rating will almost certainly switch to M at some point. This chapter itself should almost be an M (I got rid of some cussin'), but no one reads M-rated TMM fic. So, it's T for now. Oh, and just because a few canon characters are in here, don't assume they're exactly their canon counterparts. This IS an alternate-universe, after all.

You've been warned.

* * *

A discarded bike rattled against the chain-link fence as its owner, out of breath already, whipped her head frantically around, short, sandy hair alternately obscuring and framing a freckly, worried face. _Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap_, the sandy-haired girl thought. She was alone on the dusty outer edge of the baseball field, the only vanguard against the oncoming dusk and the _thing_ framed by the encroaching darkness.

It looked like it had probably started life as a deer. Even ten feet high, bipedal and black-furred, there was something essentially deerlike about its horned head.

No deer ever had teeth like that, though, the girl thought as the monster, alerted by the sound of her bike, turned and bared incongruous fangs. It just stood there looking at her for a second, like she was an oncoming car and it wasn't a monster, just an ordinary deer too stupid to get out of the way.

That second of hesitation was enough, though. Outwardly calm despite all interior panic, the girl yelled, "Mew Mew KD Metamorphosis!" and yellow light surrounded her. In flash of a milisecond, she was transformed, her sweater and jeans having turned into a yellow leotard and blue boots. Sandy-brown wings sprouted from the small of her back, and she still had time to dodge as the chimera lept at her, antlered head lowerd.

KD's wings flapped nervously as the thing veered at the last second, just barely grazing her arm. A small cut blossomed where it had struck her, and she hissed in annoyed pain. All by herself, there wasn't much she could do, and she knew it. She readied herself for the deer-monster to turn and make another pass.

"Reborn, KD slam!" she called, punching her brass-knuckled fist toward the approaching monster. A brick-shaped wedge of yellow light shot from her hand and impacted the monster's shoulder with a sickening crunch of breaking bone. The chimera's arm, which looked vestigial to KD, hung even more uselessly at its side. Stumbling sideways from the force of KD's attack, the monster reached its deery head down to its injured shoulder and gnawed at the wound until the entire arm hung free in its weird jaws.

It didn't seem to take any notice of the reddish-green blood flowing from the severance wound, but flung its detached limb carelessly at KD. She dodged instinctively, but the arm wrapped itself around her neck, bones crunching horribly in her ears as it deformed to curl around her. She struggled to free herself, but the brass knuckles made her right hand all but useless for prying.

Black spots were dancing in her vision to a litany of _goddammit where are they this is all their fault I'm gonna DIE_ when she thought she heard the rhythmic flop of feet against the brown grass, followed by whispered profanities and various transformational shouts.

"Mew Mew Noa Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Yomi Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Akane Metamorphosis!"

"Mew Mew Lorne Metamorphosis!"

After the fraction of a second it took the others to transform, Noa was immediately beside her, wrenching the severed limb off her throat. KD stood dazed for a second before the contents of her stomach decided to make a surprised reappearance. Noa, ponytail swinging jauntily, bounded nimbly aside as KD puked in the grass, off to fight the monster.

"Reborn, Noa Thunder!" Noa shouted, stomping the ground. A blaze of green light shot across the ground, illuminating the grass a living shade before impacting the chimera, making it stumble and open it's mouth noiselessly.

To the surprise of all involved, rings of golden light, vibrating with their own internal energy, issued from the thing's mouth. One hit Noa square in the chest, leaving a bloody hole in her gray tube top as well as the flesh beneath it, like a particularly horrible case of ringworm.

Noa's horned head lowered in shock, and she fell to her knees, and then to her side on the ground, almost soundlessly, her mace making as much noise when it hit as she did. KD stumbled over to her, still nauseous and dizzy, but a chocolate-colored hand whipped out from nowhere to push her back.

"Kaede," Lorne said gravely, lifting her long skirt to step over Noa's prone form, never releasing her hold. "Now is not the time to worry about her. You're the _leader_," the dark-skinned girl spat, injecting the word with more venom than a pitcher of cobras, "right? Go do your worthless little job."

When the rather dazed KD failed to move aside, Lorne shoved her, and she tripped over Noa, who seemed unconscious and still bled badly. She fell on her backside, but that put her in a better position to assess the damage. Noa's rhino-hide armor was usually stronger than this, KD thought with a measure of resentment.

No. It wasn't Noa's fault, she countered herself bitterly as the unconscious girl's fuku melted away, being replaced by a day-glo t-shirt and sweatpants. It was her own fault. If she hadn't been caught off-guard by the monster's arm, Noa would have been able to defend herself. If she'd waited the others instead of charging into a fight without a plan, she may have been able to study it, to warn everyone that it had an energy attack.

If she'd thought to bring her first-aid kit, her friend wouldn't be bleeding to death in the brittle grass.

She shook her head violently, breaking herself out of her stupor. "Akane! Get over here!" she snapped worriedly, the efficient leader once again.

At the same time, there was a cry of, "Reborn, Akane Lash!" and the girl in question's whip, which looked disturbingly similar to the hairless rat tail poking out of her backside, wound around one of the chimera's legs and began to burn into the flesh.

At the sound of her name, though, Akane's anemic-looking head snapped up. She jiggled her whip, which slid easily off the monsters leg and wound it up, wincing as it burned her, too, and scurried over to KD.

"Akane, finally!" KD said exasperatedly. "Will you tear some strips off your skirt? Noa's bleeding, bad." Akane looked down at her ripped white skirt. True, she was wearing opaque leggings underneath, so there wasn't much risk of immodesty, but she knew she'd_ feel_ naked, and the thought made her flush with shame.

Still, she nodded morosely and ripped the fabric to ribbons without complaint. "I don't... I'm not sure what to do for her," she mumbled, taking in the scope of Noa's wounds. KD sighed heavily and grabbed the ripped pieces of skirt out of Akane's hands.

"Fine. I can do it." KD's wings flapped in irritation. She waved a dismissive hand. "Just... go help Yomi and Lorne or something."

To an outside observer, it really looked like they needed the help. Yomi, looking like a preteen Sailormoon cosplayer in her fuku, was being forced backwards by the deer-monster.

"Reborn, Yomi Spark!" she yelled, over and over, her shuriken turning into tiny light grenades that exploded against the thing's chest in showers of blue-white sparks. Her attacks pockmarked the chimera's torso, leaving bare patches that looked as though they'd been electrocuted, along with the smell of burnt fur.

The monster seemed more pained by the ring Akane's whip had burnt in its leg than by anything Yomi was doing, though, and even though it showed a small limp, it continued to advance. Yomi's eyes were rolling white with terror, and Akane ran forward, whip drawn.

"Reborn, Aka--"

"Reborn, Lorne Slice!" The black girl's long, mahogany-handled glaive whirled through the air, filling the field with the angry red light of her powers. Thin blades of energy scored into the chimera, leaving huge gashes that bled that odd green-red.

It fell, but didn't turn back into a normal animal, although the random, spastic kicks it made looked very like a deer before the hunter puts it out of its misery.

"That, was a jerk thing you did, Lorne!" Yomi said, terror turning to ire now that the danger had passed. "Just letting that stupid thing do whatever it wanted to me while you lined up your shot! Why are you such--"

Lorne cut the short, slight girl off by turning her back wordlessly. "Kaede!" she called, in a velvet voice laced with razors. "Oh fearless_ leader_--" there it was, that poisoned tone again, "--We really can't finish this chimera off without you, so if you'd be kind enough to grace us with your presence..."

"I don't wanna deal with your crap right now, okay, Lorne?" KD replied wearily. She stood up and brushed herself off, having finally staunched Noa's bleeding, then tiredly muttered, "Reborn, KD Slam." This time the golden light of her attack grew, engulfing the monster and turning it back into an ordinary deer that looked at the assembled Mews confusedly for a moment before bounding away.

Lorne strode over to the place where the chimera had lain and ground the tiny, jellyfish-like creature that remained into the ground with one heeled boot. She began walking away.

"Lorne." There was something in the severity of KD's tone that made the taller girl turn back, lackadaisically, to regard her leader. "I made you second-in-command because I know you wanted a leadership role, but using Yomi as monster bait is just fucking unacceptable." She stabbed a finger towards the little girl in the sailor fuku, who had the decency to look properly ashamed.

"KD, I don't think this is necessary..." Akane muttered halfheartedly, but the bird-girl continued regardless.

"And the rest of you. We've been doing this for what, four months? When I say there's chimera activity behind the ball field and that I'm going to check it out and I need backup, that means you come _right away_."

"KD..."Akane tried again, never looking up from the ground. She was heard this time, though. KD closed her eyes for a moment, tugged hard on a hunk of her face-framing hair, and took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, you guys," she said, weariness clouding her voice. "I know it's not really your fault. I'm just worried about Noa. It's not fair to be taking it out on you."

"Um, don't worry," Yomi said as brightly as she could, although only moments ago she'd been fighting back tears. "This was super-scary, but we'll do better next time."

"Thanks for trying, Yo," KD said with a halfhearted smile. "But I know this is my fault. If I were a better leader--"

"--Then we'd have saved the world already, wouldn't we have?" Lorne finished scornfully. She de-transformed and gingerly scooped Noa up. Her wound looked better already, no new blood was seeping through the makeshift bandage anymore. "Noa will stay with me until she can go home. That is not up for debate." She shot KD a glare, as if daring the leader to challenge her. "I suggest you all get home as well."

It was a measure of how tired the girls were that although they ordinarily disobeyed any orders Lorne attempted to give as a matter of principle, none of them made any protest, but all de-transformed and began to trudge individually back to their houses.


	2. White Noise

**Chapter 2: White Noise (Noa)**

Hmph. Not much to say in the author's notes, because apparently only about twenty people read the first chapter. But if you did, thank you, I guess. Lurking is better than not reading at all. And many thanks to both my reviewers, of course.

If you feel like leaving a comment, which I would love, I especially want to know what you think of Noa's voice. She's really tough to write because I keep wanting to use words that she wouldn't even know, which makes it hard to stay consistent. (Plus, she annoys me.) Therefore, criticism would be wonderful.

* * *

I thought I was gonna go completely nuts, stuck in my house.

It wasn't hard to fob my mom off with a story about how I just went through a bad breakup and blah blah blah, could I stay home for a few days? Stuff like that's routine for me, and if she did manage to hear anything through the rumor mill, well, I _did_ just break up with Dai Shinzu, but, like, it wasn't painful enough to warrant a mental health day.

It's way embarrassing to have to take some time off because I got hurt in a fight, even if it was sort of KD's fault. I'm supposed to be the athletic one.

But whatever.

It's only been three days since that chimera got me, but you can barely see the giant ring on my boobs and stomach now. Being a Mew means that I heal, like, super-fast, so I figured I could chance going to school without a lot of awkward questions about why my boobs are bleeding.

_Oh, well, that? I was part of a giant tick-tack-toe game. It got intense._

Yeah, right. That doesn't even make sense.

I woke up today with a weird feeling in my stomach. Just nerves, I guess, because figured I was going to get a severe tongue-lashing from KD and Lorne about how I need to be more vigilant or how do I expect to save the world and blah.

Plus, I'd have to hang out while they screamed at each other, just so they didn't think I was blowing them off. KD's cool, maybe a little too focused on school, but having to deal with Lorne in the real world's a pain.

Not that she's not a pain when we're off saving the world, but at least then she's the kind of pain that kicks monster ass when we need her. At school she's just this weird angry girl who thinks she's better than everyone. The only reason I can even be seen with her is that everyone thinks I'm somehow blackmailing her into letting me copy her homework.

Yeah, right. As if I'm evil enough to blackmail anybody, especially somebody as scary as Lorne. Her dad's like a big deal in the American navy over in Yokosuka, too, so I bet she knows all sorts of weird military crap.

And as though anybody would believe that I did the sort of work she does. Even _my_ teachers aren't that dense.

I miss seeing all my friends. They think I'm all broken up about Dai, so I've gotten some weird don't-worry-you-can-do-better texts that I'm not really sure how to respond to. You'd think I'd've gotten better at lying since becoming a magical girl with a "_romantic double life_" (Yomi's term, not mine), but I'm really a pretty honest person.

And pretty honest people, despite knowing that they're not going to learn anything, go to school occasionally.

Sucks.

o()o

KD must have been waiting to ambush me, I bet, because as soon as I got into school she started walking with me, blabbing a zillion miles an hour about how I should be more careful so I don't get hurt again and blah blah.

The crap she tells us about our failures as Mews sound really bad, but I know it's just habit, so I can pretty much tune her out. Plus, I know for a fact that she's like a million times harder on herself and that she's mostly just blaming us when we screw up 'cause she thinks its the sort of Thing a Leader Should Do. It's, like, how she shows she cares.

She looks like she hasn't slept. Even her cute, careful preppie makeup can't hide how tired she is. I feel bad that she was worried about me, but she's talking so loud that if Lorne's around she's for sure going to notice us, and that's a headache I can do without.

I'm lucky today, though, despite the fact that my morning coffee feels like driveway in my stomach. Bleh. But I can deal with feeling a little crappy, 'cause KD and I make it to homeroom without running into Lorne at all.

And, yeah, there's a substitute. Score another one for me.

It always takes subs a zillion years to take attendance, and this one's even worse than normal.

"Danaka Akane?"

Akane mutters her "Here" too quietly for the sub to hear her. The normal teacher knows to just _look_ for Akane (She stands out because she's all pale and fat and gross), but our lovely sub wastes even more time until Akane finally raises her voice enough to be heard.

Akane's a mouse. That's all there is to it. A big, stupid mouse who isn't even that good a Mew. I think KD keeps her around because she feels sorry for her. It's another Thing a Leader Should Do.

Sub-zilla keeps on plowing through the list. It's still first period and I want a nap.

"Kaneda Kaede?"

"It's KD," KD replies brightly. The sub's eyebrows crease until they almost meet in the middle.

"Katie? Oh, dear, I really don't approve of students using Americanized names. You should be proud of your culture, dear!" I roll my eyes, but KD's too nice say anything bad to a teacher, even a sub, so she just blushes.

"Actually, it's K-D. Just the two romanji." The sub gives her this deadeyed look, like she can't figure out why KD thinks she cares.

I think the word for KD is _poised_, though, and she just adjusts her hair bow a little and sits down calmly. Our Fearless Substitute chugs onward.

"Okayasu Noa?"

I raise my eyes just enough to send the sub a Standard Teenage Glare, say "here" in the flattest voice I can muster. There's no drama after my name. The sub just nods and checks me off, like sullen boredom is exactly what she wants from us.

o()o

I sleepwalk through my classes and barely even perk up during lunch. I've only been gone for a few days, but I can barely follow the usual lunch-table gossip I'm so frikkin' out of the loop. It's way frustrating when I have no idea what my friends are talking about, especially because they make me feel like a total Akane when I've gotta ask.

And lemme tell you, the last thing I need is for KD to bounce over to my table, somehow managing to look more alert than I do despite the fact that I've basically been sleeping for three whole days. But her alertness is wary, like she expects a monster to pop out of the cafeteria slop (which, for the record, none of_ my_ friends are eating, so we'd be fine).

"_Noa!_" she hisses, poking me in the shoulder. I turn and roll my eyes at her, but it's more for show than anything and no one's looking. They're all to intent on the gossip _that I'm missing out on because of KD_.

She doesn't take the hint though. "_I seriously need to talk to you!_" KD continues in that same desperate whisper, like there are spies everywhere. A Good Leader Would Be Paranoid, I guess.

"Fine," I sigh back in an affected show of annoyance.

Nope. Still no response from my friends. I don't know why I even bother. So I let KD drag me off to some godforsaken corner of the caf. "_Did you pay attention in bio today?_" She hiss-whispers as though it were some national secret.

"_KD!_" I hiss back, before I realize how completely retarded I sound. "You know I wasn't smart enough to test into bio as a first-year!" I continue in a slightly peeved variant of my normal, non-spy-movie voice. "And even if I had been, of_ course_ I wasn't paying attention in class! That should sort of just be a given."

She sighs. We've known each other forever and she doesn't think I'm living up to my potential.

Whatever.

"Well," KD counters, all offended dignity, "Tanei-sensei said during bio that black rhinos were officially extinct!" She raises her eyebrows for effect as whatever significance that was supposed to have totally fails to hit me.

"Um, so?"

"So!? So that's the DNA you have, Noa! What if this means that you can't be a Mew any more?"

I can't really do anything but continue to look at her blankly. "But, like, I already have the DNA, KD. So... shouldn't that not matter?" She visibly deflates, her panic bubble popped by the sheer obviousness of my logic.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she says tiredly, slumping against the gross lunchroom wall. "I'm sorry I--"

But whatever she's sorry about gets cut off when something starts vibrating in her purse. I gape at her with my mouth hanging open as she digs through her bag. I was under the impression she didn't even _bring_ her cell phone to school for fear that it would go off during class, but here she was about to pull it out in the middle of the caf.

What she finally pulls out of her purse, though, isn't a phone. I don't really know how to describe it. It's like... a pink ball of fur with cat ears, big cute eyes, and a tail. It's some sort of monster-sensor that Ryou, the hottie who gave us all superpowers, made for KD. She calls it Yuu, after him.

Please, could she be any more obvious?

Anyway, the fact that Yuu is buzzing means that there's a a monster in the area somewhere. KD glances at me meaningfully, and we both dash into the girls' bathroom to transform.

A quick glance around reveals that the bathroom is empty, but just as KD says, "Mew Mew KD Metamorphosis!" one of the stalls swings open with a creak.

We both turn toward the noise in serious slow-mo, me in my school clothes and her in her costume, which is like this yellow leotard, dreading having to somehow explain this. Luckily for us, though, Akane toddles out of the stall with an empty plastic cafeteria tray.

She _EATS _in here?? That's pathetic, even for her.

But pathetic Akane means we don't have to get into some awkward thing about what the hell we're doing. She looks KD up and down and then nods slowly.

"Mew Mew Akane Metamorphosis," she says, almost too quiet to hear.

She transforms in a flash, and her fuku is thank God looser and longer than the rest of ours, and has a corset to hold in her belly besides. She looks way better as a Mew than she ever does in real life, which isn't saying much, but I can see why she likes it.

Me? I always look good, especially considering I'm part rhinoceros.

"Mew Mew Noa Metamorphosis!"

And nothing happens. KD's eyes get wide and then her mouth opens as if she wants to say "I told you so," but no sound comes out. Akane mirrors the expression, but she looks more like an albino bowling ball. With rat ears.

Suddenly, Yomi bursts into the bathroom, already in her fuku. "OMG, Akane, you'd better be in here!" she yells hysterically, half to herself, before noticing the three of us.

"Do you know where it is, Yo'?" KD asks, businesslike.

"Y-yeah! Back stairway!" that note of hysteria is still in her voice. "I-I couldn't tell what it was."

KD yanked on a chunk of her own hair to clear her head, then patted Yomi soothingly on the back. "That's just fine. Whatever it is, we can take it. Have you seen Lorne?"

"N-no. I don't keep track of her! She's _scary_!" Yomi wheedles, always afraid of doing something wrong.

"No, that's fine. I'm sure she'll turn up. Let's go!" We all follow KD out of the bathroom, but she blocks me. "You have to stay here, Noa," she tells me gravely. "I don't want you getting hurt."

It would be pointless to pout, especially because I don't want me to get hurt, either. So I nod and duck back into the bathroom to wait out the fight. Within a minute, though, I'm pacing, full of nervous energy. I need to be out there, helping. But there's nothing I can do.

As soon as I put that thought into words, I get this weird... Like, not a voice, exactly. More like a feeling. The feeling says that like hell there's nothing I can do. I can still help, I just need to _concentrate!_

At this point, I'll take any weird glimmer of hope, so I raise my hand and yell, "Noa Metamorphosis!" Half-familiar transformation light engulfs me, steelier than my normal electric green.

But who cares? Once I'm transformed, I practically fly out of the bathroom without even a glance in the mirror to see what I've become.


	3. Wipe Away My Eyes

**Chapter 3: Wipe Away My Eyes (Yomi)**

Thanks to both the people who reviewed the last chapter! Your long reviews make me so happy I don't even know what to say.

I'd like to announce that I'm officially entering this story in **Tomahawk 3.0's Mew Mew Contest**, which theoretically means that I have to finish it by January first. Here's hoping!

Yes, the chronology in this chapter is messed up. That's purposeful, and it's probably only going to get worse as the story goes on...

And check it out, they fixed the linebreaks!

* * *

_**From AdOrAbLe YoMi'S jOuRnAl Of ThInKs:**_

_I hate to admit it, but magical girl anime lies sometimes. For instance, whenever there's a guy who sort of acts like a jerk, you know he's secretly got a crush on the lead and they're gonna end up together by the end of the show. There's never a boy who's really a meanie unless he's working for the baddies and isn't hot. And even then he's kinda likely to turn good at some point._

_Jerky boys really aren't the important part, tho. The whole point of those shows (which, for the record, I LUV) is that the magical girls have a _destiny_ to save the world, and whatever their flaws, whether they're ditzy or clumsy or whatever, the girls shape up into real heroines and save the world. They're never too scared or disgusted or stupid to do what they have to do._

_I really don't like me right now. After the fight at school today... I'm a really sucky magical girl. I kinda always knew that, but I figured I'd grow out of it like a real heroine. Now I just think I suck. Which is SO stupid! If anyone on my team should be an awesome magical girl, it's me! I've watched the shows since I was little. I know all about them. So why do I still freak like a baby whenever I'm in a fight?_

_I guess maybe it's because I'm not destined for this. None of us are, I guess. I didn't have this journal 4 months ago, when all this started happening, so I'm gonna record it here for posterity, and because I need to do SOMETHING to distract myself from how much I hate me right now._

o()o

KD, Akane, and Yomi pushed through the panicked, fleeing students. After a couple minutes of struggling against the human current, the hallways emptied, and the three girls came to the back stairwell.

Standing at the top of the stairs was a-- well, they wasn't sure what it was. It wore a tattered school uniform and was humanoid, more or less, but it seemed to be made out of some sort of semi-translucent jelly. Alone, that wouldn't have been good for more than a moment's pause; they'd fought things that looked a lot weirder.

"It doesn't look too bad?" Akane said tenously, hopefully.

"Are you kidding!?" Yomi responded a tad hysterically. "Look at the stairs!"

Scattered down the stairwell were the unmoving bodies of about half a dozen students (and who could tell if they were dead or unconscious? All Yomi could think about was the sizzle and thump of their bodies falling), limbs akimbo and with strange holes burned through their uniforms.

"See how the chimera's got those tendril thingies?" Yomi asked, reigning in her panic enough to warn her teammates.

"That's what burned everybody?" KD eyed the monster warily.

"OMG, KD, you have _no idea_. It was like some sort of jellyfish, I guess, and it just appeared in the hallway. I was there and not everyone had time to get away and—" Yomi, blinking back tears, was so caught up in her recollections that she didn't notice the chimera lashing out with thin, viscous tendrils.

Akane leaped out of the way, and KD, realizing that Yomi wasn't paying any attention to the monster, pushed the smaller girl away. Unfortunately, that meant that the stinger struck the bird-girl square in the chest. KD screamed for a fraction of a second before her jaw clamped shut, her body seizing painfully from the chimera's bioelectricity.

"Reborn, Akane Lash!" The pudgy girl's whip burnt through the monster's arm, releasing a disgusting burning-plastic smell. The thing barely seemed to notice, though, and its semitransparent arm hovered in the air for a moment before strands of goo spurted out from the monster's shoulder, reattaching the severed appendage. "Yomi, do something!" Akane called, her voice somewhere between a whine and a scolding.

"R-reborn, Yomi S-sparks!" with a cringe, the little girl spun three shuriken in the chimera's direction. They glowed brighter and brighter as they whirled through the air, but each of them hit the monster with a dull _thwak, _losing their glow as they were absorbed into the thing's torso. The little blades hung suspended there for a moment, completely visible though its semi-clear flesh, before the monster _spit_ them out.

It wasn't a very good shot. The shuriken bounced harmlessly off the stairwell walls, but fear sparked in Yomi's heart as she realized just how little her and Akane's attacks were.

o()o

_Like I said, I don't think giving the magical girls their powers is supposed to be as sloppy as it is in real life. I was in the park one day, just hanging out on a bench drawing, when all of a sudden there was this white light. Dunno what it was, but I must've passed out, cuz the next thing I know this COMPLETE hottie was standing over me. Like, really, really hot. I thought I was dreaming. He didn't give his name or anything, but he said to follow him._

_Of course I did it. Did I mention how absolutely B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L this boy is? He brings me to this equally adorable cafe and tells me to hang out while he goes and gets the others. There are already two other people in there, KD and Akane, both of who I knew at that point just by rep (KD's way involved in student gov and Akane's sort of infamous for being quiet and sad. Unfortunately, it's more a pathetic-sad than romantic-sad or tragic-sad), and we just kind of sat there awkwardly while Mr. Hottie went and brought in Noa and Lorne._

_Once we were all there, he brought us into the back of the cafe, which was all secret agent-y and metallic and cool. We went into what I guess was his lab (although he is WAY too hot to be a scientist)._

"_I'm sorry. This was an accident. We didn't want or mean to involve you girls, but we need you. Especially you, Yomi." I'm paraphrasing a little (and I may have made that last part up), because I can't remember his exact words, but he definitely didn't say anything about how it was our destiny to save the world. And he introduced himself as Ryou Shirogane, call me Shirogane._

o()o

Out of seemingly nowhere, a blade whipped down and cut through the protoplasm anchoring the sandy-haired girl to the monster. Lorne smirked as KD tried to regain her footing. "Sorry I'm late," she said half-sincerely. "Not all of us get a warning when chimera start showing up."

KD glared at the dark-skinned girl as she stood up. "Thanks, Lorne," she ground out, but it was impossible to tell if her tone was due to annoyance or just an aftereffect of being shocked. She punched toward the monster with one brass-knuckled fist, clutching her chest with her free hand. "Reborn, KD Slam!" The chimera _bent_ out of the way of the golden wedge that shot from KD's fist, causing Lorne's smirk to grow.

"Don't feel bad, KD. Reborn, Lorne Slice!" Blades of red light exploded outward from her blue-clad form, cleaving the monster into several chunks. Still smirking, she turned to KD and shrugged.

"Don't turn your back on it," Akane muttered, keeping her eyes downcast in an attempt to avoid Lorne's scorn. And indeed, the mouse-girl was right. The chimera reconstructed itself in short order, shooting more tendrils at the assembled Mews. They all dodged, Lorne cursing as she did so, but the frustration of a seemingly unwinnable battle weighed heavily on all the girls.

"What did I miss?" A worried, slightly out-of-breath voice asked from behind them. As one entity, the four Mews turned to see Noa in full fuku.

Well... sort of. As their eyes moved down her form, the others noticed that her clothes, always the iron-gray of rhino skin, seemed to be made out of actual metal, which shone dully in the stairwell's artificial lighting. The girls' shock at seeing their teammate's strangely altered fuku was cut short when Akane cried out and grabbed at her own neck, where an angry red welt was already forming.

At the top of the stairs, the monster reeled in its tentacle and prepared for another attack. Thinking quickly, KD hissed, "Okay, everybody hit it together. There's _gotta_ be a way to beat this thing. Reborn, KD Slam!"

"Reborn, Lorne Slice!"

"Reborn, Akane Lash!"

"Reborn, Yomi Sparks!"

"Reborn, Noa Detonation!"

The chimera was variously sliced, burned, and twisted into chunks (some with shuriken suspended in them), but it began to slowly reform. After a moment, though, green light grew inside every translucent lump of flesh. When they had gotten so bright that it was almost blinding, every piece exploded in a shower of goo.

Everyone turned to stare at Noa, who seemed as shocked as they were, staring open-mouthed at the aftermath of her attack. "KD, finish it off before it can get together," the iron-clad girl managed to suggest. Her leader nodded grimly and bounded up the stairs two at a time. When she was close to to the epicenter of the chimera's explosion, she raised a fist.

"Reborn, KD slam," she muttered. At point-blank range, the golden light of her powers burned away the goo. The chimera's abandoned school uniform reinflated, filling with a girl KD didn't know, who was unconscious and looked badly-hurt. "Guys!"

o()o

_Then Ryou's (yeah, I'm not gonna call him that too his face, but no one has to know if I do it privately :P) partner Keiichiro, who's nicer but not as hot (although if I had an older brother, I'd totally want him to be like Keiichiro) came and explained that aliens were attacking and they'd accidentally (accidentally!!) turned us into magical girls to help fight._

_We all got endangered animal DNA that gives us our powers. It's something like this:_

_KD: Something sandpiper._

_Akane: Mouse? Rat? Can't really remember._

_Me!: Pink Fairy Armadillo (I looked them up and they're not as cute as they sound :( )_

_Noa: Rhinoceros_

_Lorne: Uh... some kind of black snake. I think._

_So, yeah, nothing Ryou did made it look like he was anything but a real jerk, but I know he's nice deep down! He's gotta be! No one that good-looking can really be a jerk. He went on a little bit about how he didn't want us but he couldn't do anything about it now, but he also let us work in the cute cafe! (Lorne would say "made us work," but she's a snot.)_

o()o

The rest of the Mews climbed the stairs and looked at their schoolmate's prone form with varying degrees of horror. Yomi was the first to speak.

"H-how can they use people? Oh my _God!_" the little girl broke down, sniffling openly.

"Shh, shh. It's okay." KD wrapped an arm around Yomi in an attempt to comfort her, "I don't know. But we'll find out and stop them from hurting anyone else. I promise."

"It's not our problem anymore," Lorne said matter-of-factly. "I hear sirens. If help is on the way, then we need to get the hell _out _of here." There wasn't even any noises of assent. The Mews drifted apart, separate except for KD, who was still consoling the horrfied Yomi, to think privately on what they'd just seen.

o()o

_That didn't really help. I still feel like a loser. Even Akane is a better magical girl then me, which is just about the most depressing thing I can think of. I mean, she's nice (way nicer than Lorne and Noa), and I guess it's good that she has us as friends, but still! Ugh, I dunno how to say that without sounding like Noa. Blech._

_Sigh. I dunno. I'm gonna go to sleep now, and hopefully I won't feel like a little emo idiot in the morning. 'Night, journal._


	4. Vindication

**Chapter 4: Vindication (Lorne)  
**

Huge, massive, ridiculous thank-yous to XxXChiharu-Chan-1000-SpringsXx and Cherrie-Sakura for their reviews. You guys are definitely the only reason this chapter got written as quickly as it did. Although, Cherrie, this probably won't change how you feel about Lorne :)

So... what's up with this chapter? First of all, it's composed entirely of dialogue. Secondly, it takes place about five years after the main plot (following the reasoning that the TMM manga began in 2000, so that's the year the story takes place). Don't freak out; I promise I'll go back to the normal timeline next chapter. Probably. Although I have decided that this is officially an experimental story, so expect me to continue to play around with chronology and chapter format. And, hey, two words for this chapter (and, frankly, _every_ chapter from a 1st-person POV): _Unreliable._ _Narrator_.

* * *

**[[CONFIDENTIAL]]**

**[[Date: XX/XX/2005 | Patient: Munroe, Lorne A. | Therapist: May, Ronald D., PsyD. | Session: 5]]**

_Good Afternoon, Lorne._

Doctor.

_You sound upset. Did something happen in the last week?_

I'm going to choose to consider that question rhetorical. What could possibly have happened? I just hate these fucking sessions. You know that, Doctor.

_There's no need to be hostile. I know you don't like this, but you're doing very well. I really think you'll find catharsis if you work at it. Would you like to begin where you left off last week?_

Do I have a choice?

_Of course, Lorne. You always have a choice not to talk to me._

Ugh. Stop trying to pull that shit. It just pisses me off.

_Fair enough_.

If I start talking, will you shut up?

_Sure._

Deal. It was after that fight with the jellyfish chimera that things really started getting bad. I've always told you that the others weren't cut out for it, but this is where it really began to show. All of a sudden, plant life around Tokyo started dying _en masse_. It seemed like every time we fought a new chimera, something would die, even if we won.

I guess I want you to know that we _did_ win, Doctor. Every battle. Between me and Kaede (who was the only one who could change the chimera back to mundane animals) and Noa, who'd suddenly become competent—

_Why did she, as you said, "suddenly" become a better fighter?_

God, back then we had no idea. I wish we had; I would've killed her on the spot and saved myself the trouble. Plus, then I'd never have ended up in here.

_Do you truly believe that it's Ms. Okayasu's fault that you ended up in here? And what about Ms. Danaka; do you blame her as well? I think you're trying to avoid taking responsibility for your actions._

Quit that. I'm not trying to shift blame onto _anyone_. Noa deserves as more blame than anybody. I realize now that it was everybody's fault: Kaede's for being bullheaded, Akane's for being weak, Yomi's for being a coward, mine for—well, you know why I'm here, Doctor. And as for Akane, you know what? I _saved the world_, you bastard, so don't you _DARE_ get all high and mighty on me. If you had—

_You're getting agitated again, Lorne. I'm sorry I brought up your friends. I think we're going to have to cut this session short. I hope you're feeling more cooperative next week._

o()o

**[[Date: XX/XX/2005 | Patient: Munroe, Lorne A. | Therapist: May, Ronald D., PsyD. | Session: 6]]**

Doctor, if I cooperate, will you let me go sooner?

_It's not a matter of cooperation so much as it is getting better, Lorne. But yes, I think a good attitude would go a long way. _

Fine. That sounds fine. How far did I get last week?

_I believe Tokyo was experiencing some serious defoliation._

Oh, right. Well, plant life was dying all over the city and none of us could figure out what was causing it. Kaede had us on stakeouts most nights, but no one ever saw anything, which I should've figured, seeing as how this was _Kaede's _plan. But every time we got into a battle with some new chimera anima, we'd see or hear about some new plants that had fallen victim to the "Mystery Plant Cancer," as the newspapers dubbed it.

We just assumed that the aliens were sending out chimera to keep us busy while they killed all the foliage. The first one, I think his name was Quiche, something idiotic like that, he claimed that he had nothing to do with it, but he knew who did. He was a better secret-keeper than I gave him credit for; took it to his grave.

_You mean you killed him?_

He wasn't human, Doctor. He wanted to completely wipe out humanity. But yes, I killed him. I got I a lucky shot while he was crowing about how we'd never find out what was going on until it was too late.

_Do you feel bad about doing it?_

You don't seem to understand that this was _war_. It wasn't like I snuck up behind him and knifed him in the back while he was going about his merry way. He was going to kill us all, but I got to him first. Simple as that. How I feel about it is immaterial.

_Earlier, you said that Quiche was the first alien. Does that mean there were others?_

Two of them. The one that came after us when Quiche had died called himself Tart. He looked and acted like a flying, evil 8-year-old. I only saw him once, though. He came at us during school, screaming about how we'd killed his brother and we were going to pay. It was insane. I don't know how we got out of there with our secret identities intact.

Tart tried to crush the school with a chimera made of huge vines, which should have made it obvious that he had nothing to do with the plants dying. We beat him once, soundly, and then never heard from him again. I don't know what happened. After Quiche, it was strange that the next person they sent against us was apparently such a huge coward.

The third alien was Pie, but we didn't actually meet him till much later. I never told anyone this, but I used to have nightmares about him sometimes. I guess I still do, on really bad nights.

_Will you tell me about the nightmares?_

Fine. Anything that'll get me out faster. In the dream, I'm pinned down to some sort of metal table. Sometimes there are metal restraints around my wrists and ankles and waist, but just as often I'm held down by giant dissection pins, like what you use on frogs in 10th-grade biology. There's this bright light shining down on me, and it hurts to look into it. I do anyway, though, because I need to find out where the fuck I am and I can't do that with my eyes closed.

And then suddenly he's leaning over me, completely in silhouette except where the harsh light filters through his hair like a stained-glass orchid. That play of light is so gorgeous that I forget where I am for a moment, but then he pulls out a cloth fan that sifts the light to blood-red. Pie runs the fan down my chest, and even though it's clearly just cloth, it cuts me. I scream and all of a sudden I'm floating above my body. There's blood leaking out of the incision in my stomach, but it's that weird red-green color of chimera blood...

_And then?_

Then I wake up. That's all there is. Any idea what it might mean, Doctor?

_Possibly. Are you willing to listen without getting upset?_

Sure. I guess. Bring it on.

_I think you feel guilty about how everything ended up, and you're processing your inability to change the past into a scenario of being physically restrained. Your file says... Ah, here it is. It says that you didn't kill Pie, correct?_

I didn't!

_That's probably why he's the one with power over you in your dream. You feel like you couldn't give him what he had coming, and so he pops back up here. As for the strange blood, I believe that that's likely guilt again. You fear that you've become a monster, as much as your conscious mind den—_

I... I feel ill. Can we end the session here?

_Of course. But I want you to think about what I said, Lorne._

o()o

**[[Date: XX/XX/2005 | Patient: Munroe, Lorne A. | Therapist: May, Ronald D., PsyD. | Session: 9]]**

_You've been doing very well lately. Were you glad to finally finish telling your story last week?_

Mostly it just felt weird. I've never told anyone the whole thing before.

_Well, you did very well. Now I'm going to ask you do something sort of odd. All right?_

I think I've told you enough times to cut the touchy-feely passive-agressive bullshit. If you want to ask me something, ask. I can't decide if I'll answer before I've even heard the question.

_Fine. I want you to tell me about yourself. What were you like before that whole business started?_

I told all that stuff to Dr. Frankl. Why don't you just use the recordings from those sessions?

_Because I want you to tell me._

Fine. But you should note my extremely good behavior.

_Heh. Duly noted._

Weirdly, I think I used to be a lot more idealistic.

_Why is that weird?_

You'd know if you had listened to Dr. Frankl's recordings.

I'm joking. I was a very cynical teenager. Somehow, though... I guess it was because I thought I could become a superhero, team up with four other superheroes with whom I had nothing in common, and save the world. I mean, I didn't really _like_ any of my friends, and for the life of me I can't figure out why I went along with it. Some youthful need for romance, I guess. Yomi would be so proud of me if she knew...

_Hmm? How come?_

Oh, she was into all that sappy magical girl _manga_ and such. Romance and adventure. I always thought she was laughably optimistic. I was right, of course, but I didn't think any of that shit applied to me. I didn't have many friends growing up. We moved around a lot when I was little, because my dad was in the Navy. He finally got a permanent assignment in Yokosuka, but even then I was this six-foot-tall black girl in a Japanese school...

...All this stuff's in my file, isn't it?

_Yes, but it's better to hear it from you. Please continue._

I decided pretty early on that the only way I was going to survive in the new school _du jour_ was to be the best. I was smart and dedicated and on top of every class I ever set foot in, but it wasn't very conductive to making friends. By the time I got to Tokyo, I was so used to being feared and friendless that it didn't really bother me. Suddenly being part of some sort of _sentai_ team was completely foreign territory.

_So you finally had friends?_

Not at all. I was so much better at being a magical girl than any of the others; there just wasn't any reason to try to befriend them. I guess. But I was thinking about what you said the week before last...

_About the meaning behind your nightmare?_

Yes. I... I guess I miss being right all the time. I hate feeling like a victim and I hate doubting myself. What's the point of my being here if all we're doing is wrecking my self-esteem?

_I'm sorry, Lorne, but you gave up your choice not to be here when you killed Akane Danaka._


	5. Flashpoint

**Chapter 5: Flashpoint**

As always, a Brobdingnagian thank-you to Cherrie-Sakura and XxXChiharu-Chan-100-SpringsXx, this time mixed with an equally huge apology for taking two months to write this chapter. Sorry, guys, I basically spent the last month preparing for finals and recovering from NaNo. Consider this your Christmas present, even though I'm an hour late.

What else... uh, I promise KD will get to narrate at least half of the next chapter. This one is already about 1000 words longer than normal, and I'm not an equal-opportunity narrator by any means, but still, our fearless leader is clearly getting the shaft here. If anybody has any suggestions as to how I should write KD's narration, I'd love to hear them. I'd like to do something more interesting than the standard first-person, but I can't think of anything good to use for her.

Also, were the parenthetical notes about who was narrating what section necessary? I'd really like to get rid of them, but I don't know if it would make the fic too confusing. What do you think?

Oh, and there's a fairly obvious reason why Lorne refers to the aliens as Quiche, Tart, and Pie, while everybody else uses the correct spellings, but it's actually not that important.

* * *

_**From AdOrAbLe YoMi'S jOuRnAl Of ThInKs:**_

_I.... I don't think I'm in a real magical girl story any more. Nothing I've ever seen or read turned out this _[word scribbled out] _pointless and stupid and aaaaaaaaagh!! I don't know anymore! It's now officially gotten to the point where I WISH the worst thing I had to deal with was me being a crummy magical girl. But it's all gone so wrong..._

_(Sigh) You don't know what I'm talking about, do you, Journal? Not that you could understand anyway. You're just a book, it's like talking to myself, except less loony-sounding, 'cause its not out loud. I wish I had someone other than you to tell about this, but I don't think I want to talk to any of the _[word scribbled out]_ girls who know what happened. There was this battle today, and... I don't want to talk about it, but I don't to SOMEONE at least, I think I'll EXPLODE. _

_Anyway, Akane called us all to the park, the one right by Ryou's adorable cafe. She said it was a big deal, that Yuu (even as horrible as I feel right now, that name still makes me go squee. Is that weird?) said there was an alien around. It made sense, 'cause Taruto, this like little-kid alien, had attacked us a couple weeks ago at school and then just vanished. I dunno. The little _[word scribbled out]_ dummy that I am, I figured he was off killing the plants while he kept us busy with monsters, you know?_

_Still, hearing there was an alien in the park kinda made me wanna throw up. I told you about Kish, the alien who tried to get us before Taruto, and how _[words scribbled out] _No. I do NOT need to think about that anymore, kthanxbai. But you understand why I wouldn't want to see that again, especially with Taruto, who looked like one of the cute badguys you can reform with the Power of Friendship, you know?_

_It wasn't him (and, seriously, where did he GO??), and oh my GOD it wasn't giving the plants a weird disease or whatever we thought. I.... I don't _[rest of paragraph very forcefully scribbled out]

[Writing resumes in a steadier hand and different color ink] _Where did I leave off? Sorry, Journal, it literally took me a couple days before I could pick you up again....._

_The new alien's name was Pai, and he wasn't nearly so cute as Taruto. When KD asked him who he was (I was like jelly when I saw him, I dunno how she stays so calm....), he said that he'd been watching us (CREEP!!!) and that since we'd beaten all the chimera he'd sent at us so far, he had to come himself for stronger tactics or something. I don't know, he was scary!_

_We fought for a while, and, y'know, I THOUGHT it was a bad fight, but compared to what happened later, it wasn't that bad. Pai was a really good fighter, and he made a strong beetle chimera anima that almost took Akane's arm off at one point. We beat the bug like a real team, which sort of made me feel better, but then he just laughed when KD accused him of killing all the plants because IT WASN'T HIM!!!! I_

[The rest of this entry is unintelligible]

o()o

_(Noa)_

I have to admit, I didn't expect the alien guy to laugh. I've dated guys like him, and they think they're way too cool for emotions like joy, which gets _so_ annoying after a while. But I keep making the same mistake because they're so cool. Hell, I say any girl who _doesn't_ get weak in the knees when faced with a tall-dark-mysterious type is a freak of nature. I bet that little pudding Akane has no interest in too-cool guys.

Luckily, Pai the alien is so not good-looking. He wears his hair with one little dumb-looking braid hanging down over his face and the bottom half of his shirt is made out of, like, purple mesh. I don't even wanna _know_ what he was thinking with that one.

So he laughs when KD gets all righteous and demands that he stops killing the plants. He's all like, "Are you really that stupid?" and KD just looks dumbstruck. It's sad, really. She's usually so together, and it freaks me out a little bit when she looks that lost. She's still KD, though, so she gets her act together quick and says that she doesn't believe him. I don't either. I mean, I'm pretty sure some of the trees in the park died right while we were fighting, so either he's lying through his teeth or the weird little alien guy is around here somewhere doing it.

Instead of answering, he floats down right in front of _me_, of all people, and throws out his hands like he's on a Christian cross. "Attack me, Mew Noa," he says, _completely _seriously.

I bet I look dumber than KD did a second ago, because, really, what is there to do except gape at him? I mean, like, how would letting me attack him prove that he wasn't killing shit? I've gotten way stronger since my fuku changed, too (Yomi calls my new outfit "_frills of justice,"_ but I have no idea what that means. It's more armor-y than frilly, really). It's like, he should _know_ better than to try to get one of the strong ones to attack him. He should try Akane or Yomi. There's no way either one of _them _would be able to kill him. I kind of glance at KD out of the corner of my eye, trying to shoot her a "get this crazy man away from me" look, but she clearly has no more of a clue what this retard is up to than I do.

"Come on, attack me," he says again, his eyes gleaming with something that makes me uncomfortable. "I'm right here."

"E-everyone, stay on your guard in case he tries anything," KD manages. I can sort of hear everyone lean forward in anticipation, but I can't look away from the sketchy alien just like hanging out two feet away from me. "Do it, Noa," KD commands. "We've got your back."

Not really trusting myself to make a decision, I go with the voice of authority. "Reborn, Noa Detonation!" Pai's face twisted into a (frankly, very satisfying) grimace as my attack exploded out of his side and one of his hands. Some of his guts get on my fuku, which is so completely gross, even if I know it'll be gone as soon as I detransform. As the green light of my new attack dies down, there's a rustle behind me and two huge trees, all their leaves completely shriveled up, crash down dead.

It's like all the air has suddenly been sucked away. There's not a sound, not even the _possibility_ of sound, and I suddenly can't breathe. Then, after what feels like forever, a soft sound finally breaks the utter silence.

It's that bastard Pai, laughing again.

o()o

**[[CONFIDENTIAL]]**

**[[Date: XX/XX/2005 | Patient: Munroe, Lorne A. | Therapist: May, Ronald D., PsyD. | Session: 7]]**

—laughing at us, Doctor, like we were idiots not to have seen this coming.

_I see. So you realized that Noa was causing all the plants to die. What happened then?_

Well, Pie escaped, still laughing at the stupid little magical girls. That was unfortunate. The traitor really hurt him; I think I could've finished him off if he hadn't teleported away. He—

_I'm sorry to interrupt, Lorne, but would you like to tell me what eventually became of Pie? My files on your escapades are incomplete..._

Need-to-know basis and all that?

_Exactly. And I admit, I'm quite curious._

Fine. Noa killed him, eventually. That wasn't till the end, though. I assume my file does contain the details of Akane Danaka's death? Well, Pie died a lot like Akane did, but I saved the world, Doctor. Noa was trying to destroy it, or at least the human parts, the parts that matter.

_You're getting upset, Lorne. Why don't we go back to what you were originally telling me about?_

Hah! Sure, that's a great way to make me less upset: Have me talk about when I first realized that that shallow bitch was one of the bad guys.

_There's no need to continue with that, then. What else would you like to talk about?_

I never said I didn't want to talk about it. I merely pointed out that it's not a pleasant topic, so if you'll kindly quit informing me when I look angry, everything will go a lot more smoothly.

_Fair enough._

Good. There was a long moment where none of us could believe what had just happened. Hell, even the traitor did an admirable job pretending to be shocked. That's when Pie got away, while we were all gaping like idiots. I was the first one to come back to my senses. I slapped her. Clearly I still wasn't thinking straight, or I would have used my glaive and the whole thing could have ended right there. She actually looked sort of hurt, like _I _was the bad one.

Kaede flipped out too, the idiot. Tried to lecture me about fighting with a teammate. I still don't understand why Ryou made her the leader instead of me. What kind of a leader defends someone who's just been revealed as a mole? A sentimental, stupid one. The two of us got into quite the shouting match, and the traitor just stood there watching us with this stupid look on her face, like she was trying really hard not to laugh at what a naïve idiot Kaede was being.

Eventually, I just couldn't take it any more. Kaede _was_ the leader, and there was nothing I could do to change that. If she wanted to believe that traitorous bitch when she said she didn't know what she was doing, well, then that was the official group decision.

_Do you mean you just accepted it? That's not like you, Lorne._

Don't be stupid, Doctor. I walked out on them.

o()o

_(Akane)_

"Lorne!" KD called desperately. Her voice was rougher than I'd ever heard it, as though it was scraping its fingernails against the sides of her throat, trying its best not to be said aloud. Lorne _whipped _around.

"_What?"_ She hissed madly. Her dark face looked like a furnace, and fire was practically blazing out of her eyes. Lorne was normally so in-control. She was mean, yeah, but she always had this icy sarcasm, and now it was like she had exploded. Honestly, seeing her lose control like that was every bit as scary as what Noa had done.

"Y-you can't just leave," KD replied, her voice surprisingly steady in the face of Lorne the inferno, but I could see she was shaking, as was Yomi. I was probably trembling too, but I was much too focused on KD and Lorne to notice. "Noa didn't know what she was doing! It's not her fault; the aliens obviously did something to her!"

"Oh, _did_ they?" Her usual scorn was back, but so much scarier now that it used to be, now that I could feel the cracks underneath her front. "All I see is a leader too weak and naïve to believe that one of her so-called friends has been trying to destroy the planet this whole time!"

"Lorne, I swear I didn't—" Noa rasped tearfully. I'll admit I was a _little _pleased to see her be the one being insulted and talked down to, but I wouldn't have wished Lorne's wrath on even my worst enemy—which Noa kind of was, I suppose. I may be the stupid one in the group, but even I could tell that now was not the time for Noa to try to convince Lorne of _anything._

The black girl wheeled on Noa like a god of death. In her rage, Lorne seemed to completely forget that she was holding a polearm with a foot-and-a-half-long blade. Instead, she balled her other fist and tried to catch Noa with a left hook.

Like a bolt of lightning, KD stepped between the snake-girl and her intended victim, deflecting Lorne's punch with her arm. It was incredible, the bravery it must have taken to do that.

"I was wrong, Lorne. You _should _leave. Now." KD isn't a naturally intimidating person (she is, of course, more intimidating than _me_, but that doesn't mean a thing, as I'm about as scary as I am pretty), but if Lorne was a volcano, suddenly spewing fire and hate, the blonde girl was a glacier, ice-cool and completely implacable. "Get the hell out of my sight." That was the first time I'd ever heard her swear.

"Fine," Lorne growled animalistically. "Akane, Yomi, if you guys don't want to be implicit in the destruction of the world, I suggest with you come with me now."

"Shut _up_, Lorne," KD shot back. "Quit trying to drag the others into this. Noa never did anything wrong, and I won't let you talk about her like she's some sort of demon!"

..._Well. _Suddenly I knew how Lorne felt. I'd kind of always figured that I didn't have that sort of passion in me, that I was going to spend my life in a slightly depressed state of apathy, but hearing KD defend Noa like she was an angel sparked the embers of my heart into something I wasn't used to.

"W-what do you mean, she's never done anything wrong?" I demanded. "Did you ever _listen _to the way she talked about me, KD?" Now I knew I was trembling. The whip in my hand undulated like it really was the tail of some giant mouse and that mouse was being electrocuted.

"I didn't mean it like that, Akane," KD said as gently as she could, but not even she could go from angry to calming that quickly, so her voice came out with a hidden sword-edge.

"But you defended her! You never once defended _me_ when she was being a bi—cruel! Does she really mean that much more to you? What if Lorne's right? What if she _is_ working with the aliens? It's good to know you value _that_ more than me!"

Now I was just riding the wave of anger, letting it carry me wherever it wanted. KD looked hurt, Lorne seemed shocked, Yomi was frightened, and I couldn't bring myself to look at Noa. I hope she looked properly ashamed. Finally speaking my mind felt like being full-up with light, just letting it come out of my mouth in a blinding beam.

"I can't defend some_thing_ that's been nothing but horrible to me," I continued, putting a hammer-blow of inflection on the word _thing._ "Noa, I don't care if you're really with the aliens or not," I told her, still refusing to look in her direction, "but you're certainly nothing human. Let's go, Lorne."

Shock of shocks, she actually listened to me! She just turned around numbly and walked away while I trotted after her.

"That was incredible, Akane," Lorne told me gravely once we had detransformed and were safely out of the park. "I didn't think you had it in you, but you told that traitorous bitch off better than I think even I could have."

Whatever pride I should have felt from being congratulated by someone as stingy with her praise as Lorne was completely subsumed by other things that were coming to the surface now that my adrenaline was wearing off. I opened my mouth to thank her and, without having any idea why, began to cry.

Lorne's face hardened from admiration into something more like the superior look she normally wore and just kept walking, leaving me to deal with my stupid feelings all alone as I tried to keep up.


	6. Celebrate the Ugly Things

**Chapter 6: Celebrate the Ugly Things**

I know, I know, this took forever. I apologize. It was originally going to be much simpler, with Akane and KD switching PoVs from section to section. And then it turned into... this. Yeah. On the bright side, we're nearing the end of the story. There's, oh, about three more chapters to go, I'd say. Which means that stuff is quickly coming to a head and answers will start happening soon. Plus, this chapter is like double-long! That's gotta count for something.

I uploaded this at about one in the morning, so even though I edited it, I make no guarantees. Please let me know if you spot any errors. Oh, and if the phone calls in between the normal sections confuse you, please blame Cherrie-Sakura. I know _I_ blame her. :)

Finally: hopefully, Wall around the World will get an update in the next couple of weeks, now that I've successfully updated this story.

* * *

(_Akane_)

"Whatever you do, don't touch it!" Lorne hissed, her snake genes showing, as she jumped back from the chimera anima. The monster was a frog as big as a garage, with sunburst-orange skin that stood out like a lighthouse in the drizzly rain and black eyes chock full of predatory cunning. Her glaive hand was smoking unpleasantly, like she'd just done a handstand on hot coals, but at least her weapon had a coating of the thing's slimy, clear blood, proof that she had wounded it.

I took her advice like I was too stupid to figure it out for myself, rolling out of the way as the chimera unfurled its long, black tongue at me. "Reborn, Akane Lash!" I yelled from my prone position, just trying to scare the thing away from me. To my everlasting surprise, my ineffectual flailings managed to wind my whip around the chimera's extended tongue.

As my attack started burning into the tender black flesh, the frog-monster's eyes went wide with pain and it tried to reel its tongue back in, fast as a fisherman who's just hooked some pirate treasure. I rolled into a sitting position, digging my heels into the muddy riverbank and vowing not to let go.

"Hold it there, Akane!" Lorne commanded. I wanted, more than anything, to obey her, in the hope that she'd gain some sort of respect for me, but the chimera was Herculean, and the ground was soft. As my leader rushed up to the monster, glaive held in front of her like a lance, the thing's throat inflated to gigantic proportions, like a nightmare balloon, and before Lorne got close enough to pierce its skin, the chimera let out a terrific bellow, which lifted Lorne and me off our feet amid waves of mud.

As I was flying through the air, being pulled in toward the chimera's mouth by its retracting tongue, I had a bizarre moment of clarity. I could only half-see because the air was still full of flying mud on top of the rain, but somehow I _knew_ just when to release my whip and when to attack again, lashing my burning whip at the monster's huge, flat face and being rewarded by a sizzle and a smell like burning gelatin.

It was almost like I was becoming competent. Yomi would be so proud of me.

I can't think about Yomi, though. She's the nicest person I've ever met, and even though I doubt she really likes me, she's at least polite enough to pretend. Thinking about her just makes me wish I hadn't left with Lorne, but I can't go back on that now. KD wouldn't accept a traitor like me back into the fold, and I'd only even get to face her if Lorne didn't kill me for leaving first.

All reminiscing was cut short as I landed on my back, sending up yet more waves of mud. Once I wiped the dirt out of my eyes and sat up, I saw that the chimera was just writhing in place, its ebon eyes obscured by an ugly white blister that also ran between the bridge of its flat nose like really painful spectacles.

"What happened?" It was a stupid question, and I wanted to blame it on being dazed from my fall, but, truthfully, I just really was this dumb.

"You blinded it!" Lorne crowed, her voice a mix of bloodlust and anticipation of the coming victory. She slammed the but of her glaive into the soft ground. "Reborn, Lorne Slice!" Gorgeous arcs of ruby light exploded out from her blade, more beautiful and dangerous than anything I could even dream of doing. Lorne's attack ripped through the chimera's soft skin, and the monster flopped down into the shallows of the river, dead. I waited for it to turn back into a regular little frog, but it just laid there, sluggishly bleeding translucent slime.

"How do we change it back?"

Lorne shrugged. "Only the _official_ leader can heal chimeras, I guess. It doesn't matter; the bastard thing isn't going to be hurting anybody else. I _hope _Kaede is competent enough to find this thing, but we'll come back tomorrow, and if she hasn't finished it off by then, we'll leave the idiot a note or something."

I wasn't sure what to make of that. Lorne sounded as angry and cynical as ever, but it almost sounded like she was _including me_ in her estimation of "useful people who beat the frog." So I just sort of stared at her, openmouthed like a fish. Even covered in mud, Lorne looked all right, fierce and strong even if the mud didn't match her skin tone. I, on the other hand, probably looked like one of those white cows with the brown spots. Putting that together with my expression, I must have been some sort of cow-fish.

"Don't look so surprised," Lorne said, one corner of her mouth quirking up. "You did well today, Akane. Lord knows you still need a _hell_ of a lot of work, but you're not as hopeless as I thought." Coming from Lorne, that was a heck of a compliment, and I accepted it with a quiet smile.

o()o

"_Hi, this is Akane. Who's calling so late?"_

"_Akane? It's me, KD."_

"_I-I thought you didn't want to talk to me after—"_

"_Akane, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that Noa hadn't done anything wrong; all I meant was that it wasn't her fault that her powers were going all crazy on her. She's been absolutely terrible to you, and I guess I didn't realize that you felt so strongly about her. I swear, if she ever tries anything like that again, Noa will get such a talking-to that she'll _wish_ I'd let Lorne knock her unconscious. Can you forgive me?"_

"_...I guess, yeah."_

"_Good. Then I need you to meet me at the cafe at 10 tomorrow morning. Skip school; we need to plan a strategy before tomorrow night."_

"_Tomorrow night? You mean... B-but... Lorne... She wouldn't want me coming with you, and I think I'm finally getting through to her. I don't want her all angry with me again..."_

"_Aw, Akane, don't cry! I promise, I'll take care of Lorne. She won't hate you for this. Just be there, please? I really need you."_

"_O-okay. I'll be there."_

o()o

(_KD_)

They were gone by the time Yomi and myself got there. The mud around the riverbank was full of half-melted indentations, signs of a struggle, but they were disappearing so fast in the soft rain that I could not tell how long it had been since Lorne had beaten the chimera.

Yomi half-walked and half-slid down to where the dead chimera anima lay, partially submerged in the river. The look on her face suggested that, as far as she was concerned, mud and magical girls did not belong in the same universe. The poor girl must have hit a particularly slippery spot, because she gave a little shriek and slid hands-first into the chimera's orange flank.

She let out a hiss of pain as she made contact. "Aaagh! KD! It's like covered in acid or something!" I picked my way down near her as carefully as I could and held out a hand. Yomi grabbed it gratefully, and it was a little slippery for a while, but we eventually both made it back onto solid ground.

"What were you doing?" I was tired, and the omnipresent drizzle was not helping my mood, so the question came out harsher than I meant it. Yomi flinched away from me, like Akane used to whenever anyone criticized her. I ran a hand through my hair, not even thinking about how I was probably getting my head all muddy. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

Yomi was still suspicious, as though I was Lorne and couldn't be trusted not to turn on her. "There's some weirdo white stuff over its eyes," she answered. "I wanted to know what it was."

"Good catch!" I said, relieved by her competency. "Hang out here and I'll go check it out. There's no point in anyone getting any muddier." Yomi nodded, not taking it as a brush-off. I flew up, though the saturated air wasn't much good for flying, and peered at the chimera's face. It was tough to make out through the wet gray light, but there _was_ something strange over its dull black eyes. The discoloration appeared in a rough line, like something long and thin had burned itself across the chimera's retinas.

Akane.

"What is it?" Yomi called from below me, her small frame obviously fighting the temptation to come back down and see for herself, despite how well that worked last time.

"You were right!" I shouted over my shoulder, "There's a discoloration over both its eyes. It looks like Akane could have inflicted the damage with her whip!" I glided back down to her, touching down with a soft squelch. Yomi looked mildly surprised; I suppose she didn't have very high expectations of Akane, either.

Please do not misunderstand me; Akane was a sweet girl and I knew she (unlike Yomi, I sometimes suspected) always gave everything she had in a fight. But she was not a great strategist, and blinding a huge, acid-skinned chimera by _falling on it—_she was not t a flyer—took more creativity and guts than I would have credited her for. Or, of course, it was also possible that Lorne tricked her into it.

"Good eyes, Yo'," I told her in an attempt to make up for snapping at her earlier. "Did you notice anything else, or can I finish this thing?" Yomi was positively _beaming_, and I knew I had, for once, said the right thing.

"Nope, I think that's it." I nodded and flew back over to the fallen chimera anima.

"Reborn, KD Slam!" I was careful not to actually touch its skin, and the golden light of my attack quickly shrunk the dead monster down to a perfectly healthy-looking little frog. "From now on, we are _not _gonna let Lorne and poor Akane do our jobs for us, right? We're the real Tokyo Mew Mew!" Yomi nodded. Inspirational speeches definitely belonged in her personal picture of magical girlhood, so they were a helpful tool to use on her. We detransformed and left together, happy to be able to get out of the rain.

o()o

"_Yo', would you be able to skip school tomorrow?"_

"_Are you kidding? Of course! What are we doing tomorrow?"_

"_Did you have a weird dream just now?"_

"_Uh, now that you mention it, yeah! But school doesn't go till sunset, and I'm not in any activities. So why do we need to skip?"_

"_Planning session. At the cafe. I'll meet you there around 10, okay?"_

"_Sure! G'night!"_

"_Good night, Yomi."_

o()o

(_Noa_)

Usually, shopping is a stress-reliever for me. I don't even have to buy anything—not that I _avoid_ buying stuff, of course—just hanging around the mall, anonymously looking through racks of clothes with hundreds of other people, is like a, hell, I don't know the word. It's something that makes me feel better.

Today, it just feels hollow. I came to the mall to calm my nerves, but it's not working. Not even the adorable sweater I just found is improving my mood. I can't even tell what's _wrong _with me. One minute I'm pissed at KD for leaving me out, and the next I'm all worried that she and Yomi won't be able to handle monsters all by themselves. All in all, it's pretty damn depressing.

Like, I never even wanted to get into this magical girl stuff. I'm not Yomi. I don't have any ginormous, romantic ideas about what being a superhero is like. I only stayed on the team because I understood that what we were doing was really important, not because it was fun or anything. So it's stupid that I'm all upset about being excluded now. I should be thinking of this as a holiday, and if KD and Yomi want to work while I'm on vacation, that's their problem.

And I mean, I understand why I'm not supposed to help them, even if I resent it. Somehow, my new powers are killing plants. I don't know how or why, or even what the hell happened to me. So it makes sense that I shouldn't do anything. De-treeing the city is probably not the greatest way to save the planet.

But still! I wish they'd let me come along with them, at least. It's been almost a month since Lorne and Akane ditched us, and from what Yomi tells me (KD won't tell me anything at _all_ in case it gives me ideas or some such shit), they've had a few pretty close fights since then, even if Lorne has been beating them to the monsters a lot of the time.

Basically, I hate worrying about them. It's not like they're my best friends or anything, but I feel sort of responsible that they're in this whole crock of shit, and, dammit, I don't want anybody to die.

Someone screams. It sounds like it comes from halfway across the mall, and I instinctively rush toward it, in the second when everyone else is still gawking, unsure whether to intervene or ignore it. There's a big... something... hovering in the skylight over the middle of the mall. It's a bird, more or less, but huge and, like, bright purple, with parts that apparently flare rainbows. I can say completely honestly that it's the gayest monster thingie I've ever seen.

The problem is that gaybird has someone clutched in its claws. I'm on the first floor, some thirty feet below it, panicking. What the hell am I supposed to do? I should call KD, but there's like a _person_ up there who could splat any second.

So, yeah, this is probably not the smartest thing I could do but I duck behind one of those little kiosk things and transform. Goddamn. This wasn't the first time I'd wished I was a flyer like KD, but I have to make due with what I've got. I bet I look, like, completely stupid dashing up the stairs to the second floor, which opens under the skylight like a balcony above the main level. Luckily, my fellow mallgoers are pretty much either fleeing or so focused on gaybird that they don't have time to snicker at my fuku.

I grab this apple-sized candle from a nearby stall and chuck it at gaybird, hoping to get its attention without making it drop its hostage. My candle smacks it in the armpit (wingpit?), and it cocks its head at me like a pigeon. I throw another candle just for good measure. This one misses, but I've definitely got the monster's attention. As it flaps clumsily down to me, I just pray that it doesn't drop the woman in its claws.

Miraculously, it lets go of her a few feet above the second-floor balcony, so she falls to the ground without serious-looking injuries, save for where gaybird's claws must've been grabbing her and she's like bleeding a little through her blazer.

I'm so relieved that I don't even notice that gaybird's aiming for _me_ now. I dive out of the way, barely, and slam up against the glass wall thingie that stops people from plunging to their deaths off the side of the balcony. There's a flare of multicolored light from gaybird's wings as it passes me, and suddenly I can't see a damn thing.

I try to be as quiet as I can, so I can hear if gaybird comes back for me, but, like, everyone else in the mall is being way too loud, and I can't hear a thing. I blink my eyes a ton, hoping to get my vision back, and I finally manage to get a really blurry outline... of something huge and purple diving at me.

Not trusting myself to get out of the way, I scream "Reborn, Noa Detonation!" Gaybird's dive turns into a fall and the mall around me gets splattered with exploded chimera guts. At least, I think that's what happens. I'm still half-blind, and around all the spots that are appearing in my vision, the sprinkler system may as well be sprinkling Kool-Aid for all I can tell.

The now-headless gaybird lands on me, its neck-stump conveniently pointed at me so I can see its nasty lack of head even through my light-blindness. It's sort of crushing my legs, but my vision is clearing up. Even headless, it's more recognizable as I push it off of me and stand up than it was from below.

_Ewww_, I touched a mall pigeon!

...KD's gonna kill me...

o()o

"_What the hell were you thinking?"_

"_You're gonna have to be more specific, KD. It's kind of too late for my brain to function. What was I thinking when?"_

"_What were you thinking when you _fought a chimera anima in the mall!?_ Disregarding the possibility of exposing yourself as a Mew, you know you shouldn't have transformed. I thought we agreed on that."_

"_Oh, did we? See, I was under the impression that you had told me not to use my powers any more, and that I didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Besides, I was the only one there. Who else would have beaten the thing before it killed somebody?"_

_  
"You're right. I'm sorry. You may have done something bad, but your intentions were good. I didn't call you to yell at you, either. I'm just kind of stressed out right now."  
_

"_Mm, I bet. Can't sleep?"_

"_You too? Hunh. Well, then I guess you know why I want to have a strategy meeting at the cafe tomorrow. I assume you have no problem with missing school?"_

"_Hold on a sec."_

"_Hm?"_

"_No, I just had to check and make sure hell hadn't frozen over. Have you _ever_ missed a day of school?"_

"_That's not the point, Noa."_

"_Yes it is! I'm so proud of you! It's like my little baby has finally grown up into a full-fledged delinquent! Awww! Heeheehee!"_

"_Quit laughing. This is serious. Besides, you'll wake up your folks."_

"_Yeah, because _they've _never heard of such a thing as me getting a call at 2 AM. And it's always serious with you. What time is the meeting?"_

"_10 AM."_

"_And you're not going to give me any more shit about my powers?"_

"_Noa, if I need you to beat whatever the hell will be waiting for us tomorrow, I couldn't care less how many trees you kill. Right now, winning is the most important thing."_

"_..."_

"_Noa?"_

"_Sorry. I'm just... Wow. You really are serious about this, aren't you?"_

"_Of course I am. I'll see you tomorrow. Try to get some sleep."_

o()o

(_KD_)

Yuu led me to the mall, which meant I was prepared for the worst. Chimera anima rarely appeared in densely-populated places, but when they did, a death toll was unavoidable. The mall was not terribly close to either Yomi or my house, either, which meant I had to drive here, an enormous waste of time.

When we got there, the mall had been cleared out, and there were people in uniform, both mall security and real cops, around the entrances. Crap. Yomi and I transformed in the car, and I got out alone while Yomi cowered in the passenger's seat.

"Excuse me," I said to one of the regular policemen, who looked at me suspiciously. "I'm here to clean up the mall."

"Didn't you weirdoes do this in the first place? I'm grateful to you for killing the bastard, but why in God's name didn't you clean it up right away?"

I gritted my teeth. "My... teammates neglected to bring the proper cleaning equipment. I am with Tokyo Mew Mew, and I _do_ know how to clean up these things. Would you like my help or not?" The policeman dwarfed me by a good foot, but, between Tokyo Mew Mew and student council, I had enough leadership experience to know that people respond well to someone who _sounds_ like she knows what she's doing. This cop was no exception.

"All right," he said, nodding. "To be honest, no one's really sure how to deal with this stuff, but you supergirls seem to know what's up with all the weird stuff these past few months. You with the government?"

"That's classified, I'm afraid."

"Fair enough. I'm going to insist on a police escort, though."

"I understand. Let me get my associate, and I'll be right back." I went back to my car, hoping that the policeman wasn't curious enough to memorize my plates, and explained the situation to Yomi.

"You mean they're not going to arrest us?" she asked tremulously.

"Of course not, Yomi. We're the good guys." Somehow, she looked unconvinced by this, but she got out of the car.

Back at the mall entrance, the policeman I had spoken to was waiting with a woman in civilian clothes. "Girls, I'm Officer Daigo, and this is Detective Hirota." I gave a polite half-bow, and they did the same.

"I'm Mew Kaede, and my associate here is Mew Yomi. I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances." Hirota's mouth hardened into a thin line, and she nodded, opening the doors to let us into the mall. The two policemen led us up to the second floor and then to the middle of the mall, where a giant, headless purple pigeon-chimera lay on a floor misted by blood.

"That's weird," I muttered to Yomi as we stepped forward to examine the body.

"You mean that it doesn't have a head?" the armadillo-girl asked, puzzled.

"Yeah, but there's no burns or gashes that would indicate Lorne or Akane was here. It was almost like the chimera's head... exploded.... Oh, _shit!_" My voice rose above normal volume on the last two words, so that the policemen, who were keeping a respectful distance, stared at me.

"Noa?" Yomi asked, apparently still somewhat unsure of what I was talking about. The evidence was all there, though, as I looked around the mall. All the merchandise had died in a little stall selling spider plants, and even some of the flowers tucked into corners to give the place a nicer atmosphere had wilted.

"Exactly," I replied grimly. "That girl..." I let out a hiss of breath between my gritted teeth. "When I see her tomorrow, I'm going to rip her a new one!" Now was not the time to be upset with Noa, though. I had to save up my anger for when I actually had her face-to-face. "I'll finish the chimera; you get the blood off the floor, okay?" Yomi nodded, probably thankful that I wasn't going to yell at her, and started attacking the floor.

Every burst of light from her attacks scoured a portion of the ground, leaving it bloodless and probably cleaner than it had been in a while. I watched her work for a moment, before slamming my brass knuckles into the chimera's chest and yelling, "Reborn, KD Slam!" In a burst of light, it turned back into a pigeon, which cooed happily as it flew back up to the mall's roof. Yomi finished the floor shortly after, and we got out of there before the police had time to really think about just how bizarre that whole situation was.

o()o

"_Lorne, I—"_

"_What the_ hell _do you want, Kaede?"_

"_You need to meet me at the cafe tomorrow at 10. I assume you know why."_

"_What the fuck makes you think I'll do anything you say after you protected the traitor?"_

"_This isn't about what you think about Noa, and it _damn_ sure isn't about what you think of me. You know what's going to happen. Do you really believe that we can stop it if we don't work together? We need to be a team now; whatever beef you have with Noa will have to wait."_

"_I still don't trust her."_

"_And I don't give a shit if you trust her or not. If nothing else, come to keep an eye on her. Make sure she isn't trying to enact whatever paranoid fantasies you dreamed up. I... I need your input here."_

"_Is that a confession? Are you finally admitting that I should have been the leader?"_

"_Interpret it however you want, Lorne. I don't care enough to let you bait me. Just show up tomorrow."_

o()o

It's the same dream, every time.

A tall, thin man with hair like a stained-glass orchid towers over you, his elongated incisors glistening wickedly as he smiles. You're strapped down to something, completely at the man's mercy. He runs a hand down your arms, with a gentleness that's belied by the malice in his grin. You want to shift away from the touch but you can't, can't move at all.

He moves his lips too close to your ear, like he's trying to make you as uncomfortable as possible. _If you want to save your little world_, he whispers, _meet me in the park at sunset tomorrow. If you're not there, I'll know that you don't care and I will destroy this city. Do you understand?_

There are so many questions you want to ask, but your mouth doesn't work either. The orchid-haired man retreats back into the blackness and your restraints pop open, leaving you laying in a little pool of light. You're free, but there's nothing but blackness all around you; the circle of illumination cages you as effectively as the shackles had.

Somewhere, just outside your field of vision, another man is waiting. You can tell its not the same man; this one feels different, somehow, but no less menacing. Unbidden, an image flashes through your mind: porcelain skin and obsidian hair, and ears like the other man's.

You can't see him, but you know that somewhere just outside where you can see, the second man is smiling, too.

o()o

It's the same dream, every time. Only the reactions are different.

Masahashi Yomi curls up in the fetal position until the terror overwhelms the reality. Slowly, hesitantly, she pads over to her door and flicks her light on. She breathes a sigh of relief. No monsters. But she leaves the light on as she crawls back into bed, just to make sure.

Okayasu Noa feels around in the dark for her remote. When she finds it, she turns the TV on and channel-surfs until she finds the shallowest, most vapid program she can. Usually, trashy television is enough to take her mind off anything, but, like shopping, it's no longer enough to curb her fear.

Danaka Akane lays perfectly still, the only sound in her room the steady rise and fall of her chest under the covers. She cries, silently; it's something she's become very good at in the last few months.

Lorne Munroe knows she's too smart to get upset over something so stupid as a nightmare. She rolls over with a groan and buries the dream in the dark, secret place where she buries all her weaknesses. So far, nothing she's stored there has bubbled back to the surface. Still, the American girl is unable to get back to sleep.

Kaneda Kaede sits straight up in her bed. _There's no way that dream could have been a coincidence_, she thinks. With a determined nod, she forces herself out of her warm bed and into the cool night air of her room. The dream may have been a trick, but her gut said to trust it anyway. And if she was going to have any hope of stopping whatever Pai was plotting, she needed to get the whole team back together and have her own planning session. KD sighed. This wasn't going to be easy, but she had some phone calls to make.


	7. One Art

**Chapter 7: One Art**

Welcome to the penultimate chapter of Severance, guys! Thanks for putting up with my slow, slow writing for all this time. It's almost over, so pretty soon you can all go back to reading authors who actually update regularly. This chapter made me want to write more in KD's point of view. She was originally the hardest character to write for—which is why it took six chapters before she narrated anything—but man, do I love her now.

I've discovered something: I am apparently completely flipping incapable of writing in the past tense any more. I have no idea when that happened, but it's become a serious issue. So if anybody notices crazy-ass tense shifts in this chapter, please let me know! Oh, and if you can't figure out who the two narrators are here, go read the damn story again. I should hope it would be obvious by now.

Also: This chapter contains a section written in script format. Don't worry, it's still the farthest effing thing from those awful "insanity humor" fics, but still. Dialogue. Stage directions. You've been warned.

* * *

As usual, I was the first one to arrive. I wanted to wait in the dining area, because I feared that if I was not immediately visible, certain of my teammates might have lost their nerve and bolted, and then we would likely be in even deeper trouble than we are at present.

My feet wound their way through the mostly-empty café, pacing around tables in some complex pattern I was much too stressed to analyze. I think I was making the customers—not to mention the waitstaff, who had no idea that I was anything other than a friend of Ryou's—jumpy. Ordinarily, I would be standing still, so as not to upset anyone, but I could almost guarantee that my current problems far outstripped those of the handful of elderly women drinking tea on a Thursday morning. Today, I would let myself be selfish.

After what I supposed was only a few minutes (I did not wear a watch today, thinking that constantly checking the time would make me more nervous, but in reality, the _in_ability to have the time at my fingertips just made everything worse), Keiichiro came out of the kitchen and somehow convinced the customers to leave.

He was so warm and persuasive, so incredibly good with people. It was a talent I never really picked up. I had figured that being smart, being good at what I did, would be enough to compensate for a lack of people skills, but I was increasingly realizing that this was not the case. I have watched some magical girl cartoons, at Yomi's insistence; the leaders of those fictional teams were always inspirational. They knew how to hold their teams together, how to make them believe in each other. I should be comforted here by the fact that Yomi's shows were wildly unrealistic. Take five girls with variegated personalities and force them to work together, and the result, as much as I wish it were otherwise, will not be perfect cooperation. Obviously.

However, that did not particularly make me feel better, though I did take some solace in knowing that Lorne was even less personable than I was.

Once the café was wholly empty of both patrons and employees, I explained my dream to Ryou with as much detail as I could remember. He nodded mechanically, his eyes sliding past me as though he could perfectly picture what I was talking about.

"Do you want any help with your planning?" His voice was gentler than normal, and ordinarily I'd be touched by his concern, but I knew he'd been paying attention to the way we Mews have been splintering lately. He didn't think I was a competent leader, or he wouldn't have asked.

I smiled, automatically. "Thanks, Ryou, but I think I'll be all right." The politeness was a reflex, born of years of practice. It has always been essential that I was a perfect daughter: Good grades, good morals, good manners. Instinctive courteousness was not a perfect substitute for an actual ability to relate to others, but I would take what I could get. He seemed dubious, so I added, still smiling, "You can keep an eye on us, okay? Come intervene if it gets really bad."

His eyes narrowed, and he stared at me just long enough to make me feel deeply awkward before deciding I had passed whatever test this was and nodding curtly.

o()o

_[SCENE: The café, early afternoon. KAEDE, NOA, YOMI, LORNE, and AKANE are seated around a table; the rest of the tables are empty. Food and teacups are scattered around the table, but none of the girls are eating or drinking anything. As the lights come up, the girls pantomime discussions and arguments.]_

KAEDE: I want your suggestions. What do you guys think we should do?

LORNE: You want to hear our opinions? What's with the sudden change of heart?

KAEDE: Does anyone have anything _helpful_ to say?

NOA: Why should we walk into that alien guy's trap? He clearly thinks we're coming, so why don't we, like, not show up?

YOMI: For sure! There's no sense in playing right into Pai's hands.

LORNE: Must I remind you girls what he threatened to do if we fail to show our faces? I have this strange feeling that a _good_ leader would want to prevent the destruction of the city.

KAEDE: I know it's difficult to believe, Lorne, but Noa and Yo make a good point. We have to assume that Pai and his partner will be ready for a frontal assault. We have to be smart about this.

AKANE: B-but... If we don't go, what'll happen? I agree with Lorne, bu—

NOA: Try coming up with your _own _opinion next time, cow.

KAEDE: Shut up, Noa.

[_The room goes silent as all heads swivel to stare at KAEDE_.]

NOA (_shocked_): _Excuse me??_

KAEDE: Did I stutter? Leave Akane alone. If you can't manage to be civil, you can join Lorne in the "shut the hell up" corner. We're not here so you can be a bully; we're here to figure out how to save the world, and I don't need to deal with your crap at the same time.

[_NOA stands up and opens her mouth to respond, but no sound comes out. She flops back down on her chair and turns away from the table, sulking_.]

KAEDE (_cont'd_)_:_ Akane, what were you going to say?

LORNE (_before AKANE can respond_): She thinks that trying to do something asinine and complicated will get us all killed, not to mention the rest of the city.

YOMI (_to AKANE_): Are you okay? Guys, maybe we should stop putting her on the spot...

AKANE: ...no...

KAEDE: No what, Akane? I'm sorry I'm putting so much pressure on you; it's only the _fate of Tokyo_ at stake here.

[_AKANE opens her mouth to respond, but is again beaten to the punch by LORNE_.]

LORNE: Leave her alone! God, you're as bad as Noa!

AKANE: That's not what I mean. I don't—I don't mind having to talk.

YOMI: Are you sure? You don't have to—

AKANE (_starting almost inaudibly, but gradually gaining volume_): Thanks, Yomi, b-but I'm fine. Really. I was... I was gonna say that I agree with Lorne that we can't not show up, but that I don't think your idea is stupid, KD. Someone needs to show up tonight, or—or Lorne's right, bad stuff'll happen, but not everybody needs to be there, you know? Or, at least, Pai doesn't need to know they're there. Sorry, I really suck at explaining...

KAEDE: Akane, that's brilliant! If we split up, and sneak around behind them or something...

LORNE: And what, leave the people in the front as bait?

YOMI (_flatly_): Sure, because you've got so many reservations about _that_.

KAEDE: Jeez, Lorne, even when you have a good point, do you have to phrase it in the nastiest way possible? We wouldn't have one person go in by herself... (_pauses, thinking_) Maybe... You, Akane, and Yomi could take the frontal route, and Noa and I would sneak around back. How does that sound?

YOMI: Why do I have to be in front? With Lorne?

KAEDE: I'm the only flyer, which should be useful for sneaking, it'd probably be best if Noa saved herself until she absolutely _had_ to attack. Besides, not even Lorne is stupid enough to try to mess up something this important. You'll be fine.

LORNE: What if I don't trust the traitor to back us up? What's to stop her stabbing us in the back?

NOA (_bitterly_): I'll only stab _you_, Lorne.

KAEDE (_exasperated_): Noa, please don't make this harder than it already is. Okay, so if you don't want Noa to be backup, and Yomi doesn't want to be in a group with you—not that I blame her, mind—Yo can come with me, and you can keep an eye on Noa up front. Fair?

[_Everyone acquiesces with varying degrees of reluctance. Lights._]

o()o

Lorne led us into the park, her head held high, looking every bit the proud lioness who finally got to take her cubs out to hunt. I couldn't see KD or Yomi, but I had to assume they'd do their parts when the time came. Yomi looked terrified last time I saw her, like the nightmare version of Pai was just over her shoulder and she knew it, but didn't dare turn around. Still, she knew what she was doing better than I did. After my stupid outburst in the café, no one but KD seemed very willing to talk to me anymore, so walking with Lorne and Noa was like being stuck in a glacier.

We didn't know where we were going, so we just kind of wandered through the park, looking rather ridiculous in our costumes. I was so nervous that I could barely breathe. Noa must have felt the same way, though she usually has much better control over her emotions than I do, because she was breathing heavily as well. The air felt thick and itchy, as though we were breathing wool.

Suddenly, Lorne stopped and turned around. She looked as haggard as I felt (Or she would, if she wasn't also completely stunning), and her dark, serious eyes darted between Noa's face and mine.

"We need to figure out where the spores are coming from," she said, completely without context, and I could tell by the tone of her voice that she wouldn't be speaking to anything as lowly as Noa and I if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I didn't want to sound stupid, so I didn't ask what she means, figuring that if I kept following her and doing what she said, it wouldn't matter if I was out of the loop.

Noa, though, wasn't nearly such a coward—She's an awful person, but nastiness and cowardice were two very different flaws—so she asked, "The hell are you talking about, Lorne?" The snake girl fixed her with such a withering stare that I almost felt bad for her, before remembering that this was _Noa. _Involuntarily, a nasty little wave of happiness washed through me, and if my cheeks weren't already red with the effort of breathing, I bet I would have blushed.

Lorne's eyes were clearly articulating, _What hole did _you_ crawl out of_, but she managed to reply without disgust completely overwhelming her voice (though it was a near thing). "Haven't you noticed it's getting harder to breathe? _Something's_ releasing some kind of spore into the air, and I bet that if we find the source, we find Pai." _No thanks to you_, her eyes added.

Our search eventually led us to what looked like a giant cherry tree, blooming though cherry blossom season wasn't for a couple months. The strange thing about it, though, was the way the pink petals seemed to blend into the sky, filling the world with a sweet-smelling, choking haze.

"Where's Pai?" I whispered to Lorne, completely forgetting about my "try not to look stupid" rule of a few minutes ago. She rolled her eyes at me, but I considered that a little victory, as I had been expecting a brain-melting glare.

"He's obviously not here, is he?" she hissed back, keeping her voice low even though, as she herself had pointed out, the small clearing around the hazy tree was empty. "I'm going to go try to stop whatever the hell this tree's doing. You two, cover me." She hefted her glaive thoughtfully before adding, "Akane. Make sure the bitch doesn't do anything funny."

I couldn't look Noa in the eye. Lorne moved to the tree with surprising quickness and grace, considering her costume included an ankle-length skirt. She moved like some sort of fairy; they all do. Yomi, if she were here, would say that gracefulness was a natural part of being a magical girl. I was clearly an aberration here.

Lorne must have called out her attack, because there's a flare of ruby light, and then the tree _screams_, agonizingly, like it was a human being—Which was a laughable idea; our attacks couldn't hurt normal humans.

"Lorne, _stop!_" Noa whined covering her ears, and I admit that as soon as she opened her mouth, my whip arm tensed. As much of a jerk as Noa was, I couldn't really believe that she was working with the aliens. If nothing else, she wasn't much better an actor than I was, and I certainly couldn't have fooled Lorne and KD for all these months. Still, I didn't want Lorne to hate me, so I kept watch.

Of course, Lorne paid her no heed, continuing to cut at the trunk. If anything, the screams made her slice faster, though I couldn't tell whether that was out of bloodlust of a simple desire to make the thing be quiet. The air was clearing, but slowly, and I couldn't figure out how Lorne got the energy to keep fighting.

All of a sudden, the air behind me made a sound like shears through fabric. I jumped, tearing my gaze away from watching Noa do nothing in particular. Pai was there, floating and grinning like a man sentenced to die, all humorlessness and thin lips.

"Lorne!" I call out, instinctively, apparently desperately needing some stronger person to protect me. Then, "Reborn, Akane Lash!" My whip seared into his side, pushing him away from me. The alien hissed with pain, but didn't really seem all that injured.

"Noa, don't do anything! Akane and I can handle this!" Lorne barked, running towards us from the heavily-scarred tree. "Where's your friend, alien?"

Pai whipped open his fans; the gesture was strangely ladylike, and for a moment I had a bizarre image in my head of the alien as a geisha. "Taruto? You ought to know. After all, you were the one that nearly killed him, yes?"

"The other alien."

"Oh, no, you killed Kish as well, don't get me wrong," the orchid-haired alien amended, casually waving his fan and knocking Noa over with a blast of air. "But poor little Taruto sacrificed himself to destroy this awful city if you failed to show up; didn't you notice how that tree you brutalized was screaming?"

Lorne's eyes widened in recognition, but then immediately narrowed again. Noa, picking herself up off the ground, didn't seem too perturbed either. I knew this was war, and that it wasn't as pretty as Yomi's descriptions used to make it sound before it became our real lives, but for some reason, I can't handle this idea. That little boy (little alien boy, but the idea was the same) locked himself in a poison tree and let Lorne chop him to pieces? I felt like someone just told me that Honshu was actually a giant whale, and I happened to be standing in the blowhole. My eyes teared up, and I lashed out wildly.

"Reborn, Akane Lash!" My voice was an alien thing, all sharp corners and broken glass. This time, I caught Pai around the waist and tugged down, hard. He hit the ground stomach-first as my whip continued to burn into his abs. I could almost understand why Lorne enjoyed combat so much.

Pai was strong, though, and he managed to loosen my whip enough to free himself. He stood up faster than I could react, right in front of me, and growled, "Windy Thunder Fan!"

All my muscles clenched at once, and I was thrown off my feet. I landed in a painful, smoking, ungainly heap, just thankful that the electricity hadn't stopped my heart. The alien leaned over me, his face painted with scientific curiosity rather than malice.

"Interesting," he said, smiling thinly. "I wouldn't have thought you could surv—"

"Reborn, Lorne Slice!"

"Reborn, Noa Detonation!"

I felt so awful that even the sounds of Pai being cut and internally combusting didn't make me feel better, though knowing that both Lorne _and_ Noa—for some unfathomable reason—cared enough not to let me get killed was kind of comforting.

A few feet away from me, Pai's corpse gave a hoarse cry. I wanted to scream at the sudden sound, but my vocal chords didn't seem to be cooperating right now. So apparently he _wasn't _dead. Noa hauled me to my feet, made somewhat clumsy by her refusal to look at me. I was still scorched and hurt, but at least I could stand up. Lorne was standing over Pai's body, the blade of her glaive trained on his throat.

"Noa," she said flatly, not bothering to turn in the rhinocerous-girl's direction, "Can you focus your planet rape attack?"

"What're you talking about?"

"Are you so stupid that you didn't _notice_ the way you affect the environment, girl? Can you kill certain plants with it?"

"How the hell would I know? It's not like I, like, practice with it, asshole!" Noa looked indignant, and I didn't know where Lorne was going with this, either. Lorne let out an annoyed hiss of breath, like we were stupid for not knowing what she was doing.

"Try to focus it on the _bad tree_, okay?" She said it like she was explaining to a particularly dumb kindergartener. Noa's mouth formed a neat little "O" as she realized that Lorne was actually saying something sensible.

"Yeah, Okay. I'll try." Noa positioned herself so she was between Pai's body and Taruto's tree. Lorne, without saying a word, moved behind her, presumably because she still didn't trust Noa. "Reborn, Noa Detonation!"

Pai smiled as his skin bubbled and exploded, marking the park like a particularly gruesome piece of public art. Behind me, the tree that poor little alien had turned into crashed to the ground, and I took my first clear breath in what felt like years.

Lorne looked grimly pleased, but Noa doubled over, clearly in pain.

"Are you okay?" I asked, aware of how fakey and cliché that phrase sounded.

Noa tried to answer me, but instead of sound, aquamarine light blazed out of her open mouth, then out of her eyes, fingertips, and spread until her entire body was covered in a sheath of light. She fell to the ground and lay there, her whole body flickering in and out like the picture on a bad television.

"Noa, what's going on?" I reached down to try to steady her, though I was unsure what I could possibly do to help, but Lorne grabbed my arm and pulled me backwards just as a stream of multicolored light shot down from the sky, engulfing poor Noa. Lorne seemed as stunned as I was, but KD lept from wherever she had been waiting, flying past us screaming Noa's name.

She disappeared into the pillar of light.


	8. Like Everything Else

**Chapter 8: Like Everything Else**

_Shiiiiit, _guys. I don't even know what's wrong with me. Do you realize it's been nearly a full year since I last updated this? I don't have an excuse—clearly, I wrote other things in the last year, so it wasn't like I had no time. I'm sorry I completely abandoned this fic, and I'm not sure that this makes up for it, honestly, This is the last real chapter, but a short epilogue is coming up. And don't worry: It's already written. I'll post it in a couple days.

To everyone who took the time to comment, and especially to everyone who's still following this story, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for putting up with my slow-ass updating, for telling me when I screwed up, for bearing with all the crazy in this story, and just for everything. I couldn't have asked for a better group of readers and reviewers, and I'd rather have you guys than be the most popular fic in the section.

This has been a pretty crazy ride for me. In the two years this story's been going on, I've changed as a writer, and the plot has correspondingly gone all out of whack from what I originally wanted to do. As this fic was first conceived, _none_ of the Mews were going to survive. But I think I've grown out of the "everybody dies" ending. So yeah, believe it or not, this ending is more uplifting than the one I had originally planned. If you still have questions, now's the time to ask them. Hell, if anyone wants to, we'll have a little q&a session in the notes for the epilogue or something. I don't know.

* * *

**[[Confidential]]**

**[[Date: XX/XX/2002 | Patient: Munroe, Lorne A. | Therapist: Frankl, Marie S., PhD. | Session: 5]]**

When this whole thing started, I didn't think it would end like this. I'm not ashamed of what I did, Doctor, but if someone had asked me "How many of the other girls would you be willing to sacrifice to win?" the first time I met Ryou, I would have laughed in their face. The whole thing was ridiculous, something out of one of Yomi's fantasies.

And in the very beginning, I guess it was kind of fun. That was before Deep Blue realized there was serious resistance to her invasion, so the Chimeras were pathetic, by the standard of what came later. The fact that the other girls didn't have a clue how to fight effectively didn't matter: even Akane could beat some of those first Chimeras.

I really believed we could do it, Doctor. I guess Yomi's enthusiasm was catching. It didn't matter that Kaede was such a shit strategist. None of us had any reason to believe that she would ever have to do anything big. That was the problem, I guess. We were all too idealistic...

_How do you mean?_

I know I've told you how Yomi is. Much as I'm loathe to admit it, I kind of bought into her delusions in the beginning. This will probably sound crazy, but—

_Lorne, we don't use that phrase_.

Yeah, whatever. How the hell would I know what a magical girl was? They weren't such a big deal over here, and even when I was little, I had better things to do with my time that watch that pap. Like an idiot, I thought Yomi knew what she was talking about. She just seemed so _sure_ that everything would be fluffy bunnies.

_So you wish that she had been right? That being a "Mew Mew" had been easy, so you wouldn't have been forced to make the decisions you made?_

Don't be stupid. I don't regret anything.

o()o

When the pillar of light faded, KD was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Noa, to be honest. The woman who stood in her place _looked_ like her, with the same body shape and facial features, but it was as though she was wearing a really elaborate costume. Her hair had turned black and escaped its band, falling too far down her back; her tan skin had blanched like she had been drained of blood, and her now-pointed ears stuck out nearly perpendicular to her head. And her new fuku had turned the deep cobalt of despair.

By itself, Noa's makeover would have been enough of a shock, but there was this... Hum, I guess, like whatever had happened to Noa was charging the air around her like a battery. I had a sudden mad urge to run to her like KD had, to tackle her out of the supercharged atmosphere. She wouldn't have tried to help me if our roles were switched.

Ultimately, I guess I didn't help her, either. Lorne was the first of us to find her legs, and she ran at Noa with a wordless, primal scream. I couldn't do anything but flinch and close my eyes. However much I hated Noa, I didn't need to see Lorne chop her head off. But instead of the wet _shunk_ I was expecting, I heard a clang. My eyes snapped open; Noa had pulled a sword from somewhere to parry Lorne's glaive. Lorne spun away.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Noa?" she snarled.

"You really haven't figured it out, you silly girl? Noa was nothing but a shell for _me_. And now that I'm free of her pathetic human constraints, this planet is mine for the taking! You stupid human, you thought she was going to betray you, but you had no idea!"

Her voice was distorted, like we were hearing it over a bad phone connection. Other than that, though, she sounded just like Noa. I think that was the worst part. All this time, the bane of my existence had been an alien? I couldn't believe that: Why would she pretend to be human, instead of killing us right away back when we were too inexperienced to fight back. No, Noa was just a terrible person possessed by an even worse one. I was sure of it. I broke down sobbing; I don't even know why. Beside me, I heard Yomi sniffling and then retching dryly, but I couldn't even turn my head to look at her.

You know in anime, where tears are these beautiful crystaline things that trail like diamonds down the heroine's face? I don't know, maybe Yomi looked like that. I was bawling like the stupid baby I am, all red-faced and runny-nosed.

Through my screwed-up eyes, I could just make out Lorne and not-Noa fighting in a whirl of blades punctuated by the occasional flash of ruby or sapphire light.

"I killed your first henchman, and I'll kill you too, you bitch!" Lorne screamed madly. The alien just laughed with Noa's voice.

Then, Lorne stumbled. She pulled herself up on her glaive, just a second too late to stop not-Noa's sword from skirting over her collarbone. It was only the iron ring of her collar that stopped the alien from cutting her throat. I was surprised when Lorne turned to Yomi and me. Her eyes looked crazy, with the whites visible all the way around her dark irises, and her hair had mostly come free of its tight bun. I don't think I'd ever seen her with her hair down before.

"Akane! Yomi! What the hell are you guys doing over there?" She had to break eye contact to fight off another attack, but she slammed the butt of her glaive into not-Noa's stomach and shoved her away. "Guys, please, I won't be able to do this by myself. I need your help. Please?"

She sounded so helpless that I took a deep breath, wiped my eyes and nose, and got undsteadily to my feet. Not-Noa was getting up, so I lashed my whip out at her, catching her on the ankle and tripping her up again.

"A-are you alright?" I asked Lorne, eyeing her sluggishly-bleeding collarbone.

"Fine," she said gruffly. Then, abruptly, her tone shifted into tremulousness. "Thank you for coming to help me. I know I haven't always been the best teammate, and I'm sorry. You ready to kick some ass?" And just like that, her voice went back into its normal register. It was as though she hadn't said the middle part at all.

"What about Yomi?"

She was still on her hands and knees on the hill, staring emptily down at the ground.

"She's made her decision. Leave her."

I tried to keep an eye on her as the battle went on. She moved from her hands-and-knees position to laying down and finally to curling up in a fetal ball, but I never caught her even looking at the fight.

The alien was a terrifyingly good fighter, much better even than Noa had ever been, and it took all Lorne and I had to keep up with her. Eventually, though, I managed to disarm her. As her sword slid away in the grass, I got right up in her face, as though I was Lorne or somebody.

"Noa, are you in there? C-c'mon, Noa, talk to me!"

Not-Noa tried to punch me in the gut, but her hand stopped barely an inch away from me, like her arm didn't bend any further. She blinked.

"Akane?" she asked in a disbelieving voice. "What are _you _doing here?" Despite her tone, I had to fight off the urge to hug her. I would take nasty Noa over murderous not-Noa any day.

"I'm here to help you. You have to fight her off..."

"I can't!" Noa replied, and it seemed like she couldn't even take back enough control to move her fist away from my stomach. She sucked in a painful-sounding breath through her teeth. "Akane, you have to kill me. I—I don't know how much longer I can hold the bitch off. Please, Akane!"

In all my life, I never hated anyone as much as I hated Okayasu Noa. She made my life a living hell all through junior high and high school. Even when I became a Mew Mew, which might have been the best thing that ever happened to me, she found a way to make me dread it. I'm a superhero, but Noa always knew how to make me feel like I was less than nothing. I used to fantasize about killing myself, about how bad she'd feel when she realized that it was all her fault.

But I couldn't kill her.

"Akane, please!" she yelled hoarsely, tears streaking unbeautifully down her too-pale face. "Kill me before I hurt anyone else!"

"No," I replied, the finality in my voice surprising even me. "You can beat this Noa. I believe in you."

And then the world went red.

o()o

_**From AdOrAbLe YoMi'S jOuRnAl Of ThInKs:**_

_I don't bel_[words scribbled out]

_I need _[words scribbled out]

_Everything happened. KD is dead. The Noa-alien killed her. Noa is dead too. So is Akane. Lorne killed them. She killed them, and I was too much of a coward to do anything about it. I didn't think it would _[words scribbled out]_ it SHOULDN'T be like this.  
_

_Oh, god, I'm the only one left.  
_

_When I was running away, after Akane, I passed police cars going the other way. They didn't stop me, why would they? I'm just some stupid powerless kid running away from my dead friends. _

_I hope they've locked Lorne up by now._

[Very small print] _I hope they come for me next._


	9. Epilogue: At the Bottom of Everything

**Epilogue: At the Bottom of Everything**

Holy moly, guys. This is really it. Well, okay, the last chapter was really it, but this is a coda to _it. _Once again, a huge thank-you to everyone who took the time to comment on this fic. Just to pad out the epilogue (and because I said I'd do this), here's a little q&a of stuff I was specifically asked, stuff I've been asked a lot in the past, and stuff that I assume I'll be asked in the future, assuming that future-people read this story--in space, presumably. XD

**Q:** So what happened to KD?

**A:** She burned up in Noa's transformation light. There isn't even a body.

**Q:** What was up with Noa? Was she Deep Blue?

**A:** Yes, and also the Blue Knight--that's where her armored second form came from. Like Masaya, she was possessed by DB all along, but her Mew powers were preventing DB from influencing her. Then, when her DNA animal went extinct and her powers started faltering, DB gained a real foothold in her.

**Q:** Who's Lorne's psychologist?

**A:** Dude, read the headings. She's actually had two. The more polite one you saw through most of the fic is Dr. Ron May, who's worked with Lorne from late 2004 onward. Before that, Lorne was seeing a Dr. Marie Frankl, who only actually shows up in the last chapter. The two of them really didn't work well together, which is why they reassigned Lorne to Dr. May.

**Q:** Wait, was Kish in this fic?

**A:** Not really, but Lorne mentions in Chapter 4 that she killed him. Please stop asking me this.

**Q:** Will there be a sequel?

**A:** What? How would that even work? No, there's no official sequel, but sooner or later I'm going to post the 100 themes I did last fall, of which like a fifth take place in the Severse. That's part of the reason I haven't put the themes up yet: They have_ so many spoilers_ for this fic. XD

* * *

_Hi, Lorne._

What the hell are _you_ doing here?

_My head doctor told me I should see you. I—would you be bother if we flipped to Japanese? My English is not good._

Fine, whatever. So your "head doctor" told you to come visit me?

_Come on, you know I meant psychologist. English is a crazy-hard language. I honestly don't understand how you do it. But yeah, he did. I didn't want to, 'cause... Well, you know._

Because you abandoned us, you mean? And then you were too ashamed to show your face for half a decade?

_Please, Lorne, don't start. I didn't come here to fight with you._

Really, now. I suppose you came here for some kind of catharsis, then? You think talking to me will make it all better.

_I _came here _to apologize. Running away was wrong and stupid, and I'm sorry I did it. But you know what? I don't know why I thought talking to _you_ would make anything better. I bet you don't even think you did anything wrong! Sheesh, I shouldn't have_—

Don't put words in my mouth.

_Excuse me?_

I said, don't put words in my mouth, Yomi.

_Whyever not? You don't seem to have trouble doing it to me!_

Is this about the "head doctor" thing? Because I didn't mean anything by that... I agree, English is a ridiculous language.

_Hunh. You really don't get it at all, do you, Lorne? I came here to apologize to you because everyone else is dead. Do you think if I had anyone left, I would bother visiting your sorry butt? But I can't get absolution from any of the people I care about, so you're the next best thing. Don't flatter yourself into thinking you're so special. All you did was kill my friends and live._

Our friends, Yomi. And you're completely right: You didn't think this visit through properly. I can't absolve you.

_Aaagh! I really don't know what I'm still doing here when you're just being as frustrating as you possibly_—

Settle the hell down and _listen_ to me. If there was something I could say that would magically make you feel better about what happened to the others, believe you me, I would say it in a second. But it doesn't work like that—surely your psychologist didn't suggest that visiting me would instantly fix everything.

_Well... Yeah, no, he didn't. But I just thought that if I could get you to understand..._

Oh, I understand perfectly. You were a coward who couldn't bring herself to fight when all her friends' lives were on the line.

_You don't have to say it like that..._

No. Listen to me. You were a coward, and I'm a murderer. It's not your fault I killed Akane: Given the same opportunity, I would have made the same choice whether or not you were fighting with Akane and me. I had to save the world, and you couldn't have changed that. If that's what you were blaming yourself for, then fine, whatever, I absolve you. But the running away thing is something you have to get through by yourself.

_And then what? I decide that being a coward is fine, and that I should be proud of it, like you are of killing Akane?_

I'm not proud of killing her, Yomi.

_Yeah, right. You just said you'd do it again!_

Because I had to do it to save the world. It's not like if I saw her on the street, I'd jump her with a knife. She certainly turned out to be a better soldier than _you_ ever were, so it's not as though I wanted her to die. It was--

_To save the world. Yeah, you keep saying that. Well, listen to this: I heard everything that happened with Akane, remember? She was trying to bring Noa back, despite everything that Noa did to her. She was a better soldier than me? Crud, Lorne, she was more of a hero than you'll ever be._

And Noa was begging Akane to kill her. Remember that? I did what Akane didn't have the stones to do.

_You did what she was too brave to do, you mean. It's a lot braver to go in and try to fix something rather than just killing it. _

Shut--

_No, you shut up, Lorne. Agh, you're right, I shouldn't have come here. You're as delusional as ever! You want to play the I-had-to-do-terrible-things card? Sure, you just keep pretending that. But you didn't _have _to do anything. You chose to kill both of them because you were too scared to trust Akane. You're as much of a coward as I was. The only difference is that I'm trying to change. I don't cling to some heroic fantasy about what I did. And you know what? There are still days when I don't want to be me anymore, but I'd sure as _hell_ rather be me than you._


End file.
